The Grand Mario Sonic Crossover Fic
by Turrican23X
Summary: Another one of those Chaos Control accidents, combined with a powerful work of Koopa magic gone awry, results in a mixup with the potential for comedy or the complete destruction of both universes. Things don't bode well for either Mario or Sonic.
1. Chaos Clash

**Chapter 1: Chaos Clash**

Fat storm clouds always gathered over the Valley of Bowser at the heart of the Koopa Kingdom. The imtimidating royal castle seems to attract them like magnets, especially at a time like this, when the ruler of the realm is preparing to hatch another diabolical scheme. Let the eye of the beholder draw closer, towards the central spire standing as the highest point of the titanic fortress. Through the walls of stone, witness the chamber inside, where the mighty dragon-turtle himself is putting the finishing touches on a great work of dark magic.

"Bwahahahaha!! It's working! And this time, no one, not even that stupid plumber can stop me!"

King Bowser was working over a huge bubbling cauldron. With each ingredient he put it, the mystic mixture changed colour. Soon, it was bubbling fireworks.

Bowser wasn't alone. Forming an octagon around the cauldron with their father and master, stood the seven Koopalings, each holding a black copy of the staffs they wielded that time when the seven of them held the lands of the Mushroom Kingdom hostage. This spell was no half-measure by far. Sorcery had often worked to the Koopas advantage when trying to conquer the world, and the royal Koopa family were all well adept at its use, but for this wicked spell to work, it was going to take all their power combined, plus a number of arcane ingredients stolen from around the world. At this point, all that was missing was the one final and most important ingredient of all, the recovery of which had been entrusted to Bowser's current favourite child.

"I got it! I got it!"

The arrival of Bowser Jr was apparent well before he entered the chamber, and not just because of how well his voice carried in these echoey stone rooms. A bright shine, almost painfully bright in this dark enclosures, shone ahead of him, and as he entered its source was apparent. Held in both stubby hands was the largest, brightest star ever seen. It was even bigger than the star Bowser used back when he took over Princess Peach's castle, and practically dwarfed the young Koopaling.

"Well done, son," Bowser exclaimed with pride and glee. "Give me the Ultimate Star, and take your position. Wait, you didn't see any sign of Mario on your way, did you?"

"Nope! That guy doesn't have a clue what's going to happen, pa'."

"Bwahahaha! Good! An unwelcome interruption at this part of the spell could ruin everything! Now, everyone, let's get ready to banish every single innhabitant of the Mushroom Kingdom from this world, and leave it all ripe for the picking! Just remember, Peach is not to be affected by the spell, got it?"

Electrically charged smog hovered over the metallic city-structure of Eggman's latest base of operations. The squadrons of heavily-armed robots patrolling the perimeter were especially fierce and numerous at a time like this, when the doctor was putting the finishing touches on his greatest invention to date.

"Muahahahaha! It's working! Oh yes, this time not even that irritating hedgehog will be able to get in my way!"

Dr Eggman hovered around the console of large and imposing machine. With each command entered, the dials and meters adjusted and aligned.

Eggman worked alone, as always, with the exception of his numerous robot servants, meticulously carrying out his orders. Eggman himself jogged over to each of the seven slots containing a Chaos Emerald, and made sure he hadn't made the miscalculation he made last time he attempted this. Splitting the world into seven distinct realms helped secure his conquest that time, but it didn't prevent Sonic and his friends from grabbing back the Chaos Emeralds, crossing over between each world and inevitable ruining everything. All that was left now was to wait for the arrival of the final ingredient, a task entrusted to the least trustworth associate Eggman had ever had. Fortunately, this time he could count on Metal Sonic's cooperation. If not out of loyalty, then out of threat. The Metallix Virus had been a brilliant idea, and had disabled that treacherous robot easily. Now, after being reprogrammed, Metal Sonic was as obedient as ever, and the lingering virus meant that his first act of rebellion would be his last.

The return of Metal Sonic made Eggman jump. He'd removed Metal's voice chip, and that robot could move as silently as a breath of air. It was only the green glow of the Master Emerald held above Metal's head that made Eggman look around.

"Muahahahaha! Perfect! Now, Metal Sonic, insert the Master Emerald into the slot at the top of the machine, and get out of my way. Wait, you weren't followed by Sonic or Knuckles, were you?"

Metal Sonic shook his head.

"Muahahaha! Good! An interference at this time could ruin everything. Now, witness the power of the greatest scientist of all time, as I harness the power of Chaos Control to remove everyone who dares oppose me from this world. And I know just which group of rodents to start with!"

"Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, and Junior, have your wands ready!"

"Energy output rising, circuits stable, preparing to release a counter-effective blast from the Master Emerald to prevent an overload. Now, Chaos Control activate in thirty seconds..."

"Good, the nexus is stable. Now carefully lower it into the cauldron. Don't let the beams lose touch, kids!"

"Chaos Emerald stability check. Green, check. Blue, check. Yellow, check. White, check..."

"Didn't I say no interuptions! Get out of her and regroup with the other Hammer Bros now! What? Speak up! Mario is at the castle gates!? How!? No, it doesn't matter. He's too late. No, Iggy, keep your wand up, there's no time!!"

"What!? No, this can't be! Why isn't the output from the red Emerald stabilising? Urgh, how can I concentrate with these annoying sirens going off? What, a hedgehog alert!? The containment field is weakening! Must raise power to the Master Emerald! Argh, what a piece of junk! If that knucklehead can get it working, why can't a genius like me!? No, it's going to overload!!"

"This isn't fair! I was so close! NO!!!"

Next: Out of Element


	2. Out of Their Element

**Chapter 2: Out of Their Element**

Mario, mustached legend and hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, rolled over in his sleep and fell over the edge, falling sixty feet and landing on his rear. He wasn't hurt much, as this sort of thing happened to him all the time, but the fall certainly roused him from his slumber.

"Ai ai ai! What happened?" said Mario groggily, as he looked around.

The plumber was surprised at the sight of the massive rock formation he'd fallen from the top of. It was something he'd never seen before, and looking around, he could see several more identical rock formations in the distance. It was a loop carved out of rock, and the inside of it had a polished look, as if something actually drove through it on a regular basis. Being a hero renowned for his jumping prowess, Mario was used to odd areas needing to be traversed but this was something else.

A short space away from the big loop was a sudden rise in the path that ran straight up. Well, Mario certainly knew how to handle these conditions. He started running towards the vertical road, jumping once, twice, then making a spectacular summersault high up in to the air. He didn't reach the edge at the top, but kicked off from the wall and rebounded towards the loop, just managing to grab onto the edge and pull himself up.

Well, he was back where he started now. He'd been asleep up here, but...how did he get here? There was no sign of any tracks, so whatever dropped him off here must've been airborne. Maybe a mischevious Lakitu. Speaking of riding clouds, the horizon looked incredibly odd. No matter how far and wide Mario looked, he couldn't see a single cloud or hillside sporting cutesy eyes. No bricks or boxes floating in the air, either. What kind of crazy land was this? Wait, there! He could see movement. Something was heading his way, making incredible speed and handling the deformed landscape as naturally as anything.

"Sonic!"

It was...it was an animal of some sort. A fox? A fox with a propeller for a tail?

Miles "Tails" Prower jumped the distance easily and landed on top of the loop, next to Mario. The Italian plumber walked slowly backwards, hesitant as to whether the fox was a friendly local or one of Bowser's new minions.

"Sonic, there you are! I just saw Eggman over that way. We've got to hurry before he gets away with the capsule full of kidnapped animals."

Mario blinked. "It's a-me, Mario!" he pointed out, confused as to who the fox thought he was.

"No time for games, Sonic. Come on!" Tails insisted.

Mario shrugged. He might as well follow. Kidnapping animals wasn't normally Bowser's style, but it was a no-good act anyway. He jumped back down to the ground, doing a ground-stomp right before landing, so as to avoid getting hurt by the fall. The fox, who apparently had two tails, turned himself into a makeshift helicopter and flew off. Following him meant running up that vertical road.

Mario got a good running start, and managed to get halfway to the top before sliding back down to the bottom. The second try didn't go better. At the third try he nearly made it. The fourth was a triple-jump that still resulted in him sliding back down to the bottom. By the fifth, he tried a wall-jump off the outer side of the loop, but he still didn't make it.

"I'm a-getting tired of this," said Mario, not quite ready to give up, but getting increasingly frustrated with the poor design of this land.

By that time the fox came back. "What's the matter, Sonic?" he called. "Did you go the wrong way? Do you want me to carry you over to where Eggman is?"

Why not? Mario had flown everything from flying carpets to fluffy clouds in his time. A two-tailed fox didn't even make the top five of hazardous transportation. Mario nodded, and jumped up to catch the fox's outstretched hand.

The flight was surprisingly comfortable, considering the strain on his wrists. The fox dropped Mario off in the middle of a wide open plain. Before Mario even had time to ask about the egg-thing and the animals, a red blaze of speed came running right at him. Mario barely managed to jump out of the way of the car with the drill bit in time. The car skidded to a halt just about far enough away to regain speed before Mario could reach it, and Mario got a clear view of the driver.

"Huaahahaha! How do you like this, Mario?" laughed Larry Koopa. "I don't know where this thing came from, but it beats a go-kart any day!"

The monster of a car rushed at Mario again, with the speed-crazy Koopaling at the wheel. Mario managed to jump out of the way several more times, and soon he picked up the timing of the attacks. By the next run, Mario was ready. Larry drove the car at Mario again, who this time turned his evasive leap into a ground-stomp that hit the back of the car hard and flipped it over, throwing Larry out on his head. Something else flew out of the crashing car as well, and was caught in the air by the flying fox.

Tails caught the black scepter. He glanced into the coloured jewel at the end of it, and suddenly the veil lifted.

"You...you're not Sonic," said Tails, looking disoriented. "And...and, that wasn't Eggman, was it? Ow, my head."

Mario let Larry Koopa make his escape, and turned his attention to the fox, who seemed to be the only one who could help him find his way in this strange foreign land.

"It's a-me, Mario!" he said for the second time.

"Mario?" said Tails, squinting. "Why did- How did you look and sound like Sonic before?"

Mario shrugged. His English wasn't the best, and he wasn't the most talkative guy around. Getting the facts sorted out was going to take a lot of questions and quite a bit of time - and possible some charades.

Meanwhile, unseen by all, Larry Koopa reached an invisible borderline, and vanished... 

Next: Super Sonic Bros


	3. Super Sonic Bros

**Chapter 3: Super Sonic Bros**

Sonic had made two assertations so far. The first was that he'd been sent somewhere due to Chaos Control. By now, he'd learned how to recognise that unique sensation of being transported through a warp in time and space. The second was that this probably wasn't Mushroom Hill Zone on Angel Island, unless the place had sprouted a ridiculous number of toadstools since his last visit.

The toadstools wasn't the strangest part, of course. Nor was it the complete lack of any rings around. It was the eyes. The eyes on clouds and hills and boxes floating in the air - elongated pupils that seemed to watch him, expectantly. The eyes didn't didn't strike Sonic as threatening, just really, really creepy.

Nothing seemed to be happening, so Sonic the Hedgehog shrugged and started running across the green plains dotted with mushrooms. These bright fields seemed to go on forever, and pretty soon Sonic was enjoying himself. Wherever he was, there was space to run freely. Sonic finally came to a stop when he nearly ran into a huge brick wall standing in the middle of nowhere.

"Psh! No problem," uttered the self-confident hedgehog before rolling into a ball and shooting himself through the bricks like a cannonball.

Sonic ended up getting the wind knocked out of him, however, when he hit something in the middle of the bricks that was harder than the surrounding blocks and didn't even get scratched. It was a big yellow square block with a question mark on it. Curious and annoyed, Sonic tapped the box, which immediatelly turned dark and sprouted a pair of eyes, while at the same time depositing a weird brown leaf.

The scream could be heard from a mile away.

"Argh! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" Sonic yelled, all his cool lost for the moment, as he ran around in speed-blurring circles, trying to grab at the freaky raccoon tail that'd suddenly replaced his sleek sharp blue tail.

The panic made Sonic push forward across the vast distance, going faster than his comfortable speed, and at one point actually outrunning the sound of his own yelling voice. Eventually, he did find help at the gates of a tiny fortress that looked out of place in the tranquil landscape. All the guards were anthropomorphic turtles, but Sonic had more important things on his mind than to wonder about that.

"Get this thing offa me!!" Sonic requested.

The koopas had been intending to sneer at the sudden arrival of their arch-foe with comments like "Well, look who we got here?" and "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Princess's mustached muscle!" but the intensity of the apparent plumber's voice threw them off guard. The Hammer Bros in charge of the squad reacted as he was trained to and threw a heavy hammer at what looked to him like Mario with a raccoon leaf power-up. 

"Ow!" Sonic uttered after getting hit on the head by a carelessly thrown construction hammer. "Hey, what's the big dea- Whoa, it's gone! Thanks guys!"

Filled with relief, Sonic dashed over to the turtle in the black armour to shake his hand. He wasn't expecting to experience a shock of pain the instant he touched the turtle, and he definitely wasn't expecting to suddenly shrink to half his normal size.

Sonic looked down at himself in shock. This was new. Once again weirded out by the sheer insanity of this unknown world, Sonic nearly didn't react in time as every single one of the turtles ganged up on him with violent intentions. Sonic jumped straight up and cleared the hurdle of shells and hammers in a single bound. After what had just happened, he wasn't sure he wanted to test the effectiveness of his spin-attacks against these foes, so a tactical retreat seemed in order. As insane as the physics of this place was, at least he still had his natural born super speed.

While most of the koopas gave chase, the Hammer Bros in charge went back inside the miniature fortress to report to the great king of the Koopas, who'd happened to visit recently for some unknown reason.

"Mario just showed up at the gate, but we succesfully chased him away, King Bowser," said the koopa, bowing deep before the makeshift throne.

"Excellent," the King responded. "Round up all the troops in the area and chase him towards the water's edge. He'll be easy to capture there."

"But your majesty," the koopa protested, "we haven't got any Scooba-Koopas to go after him when he goes into the water. He'll be able to swim away through the underground rivers."

"Rest assured. 'Mario' won't dare to get wet even to save his life," said Dr Eggman. "Muahahahahaaa!!"

"As you say, your majesty."

Next: Ripples in Reality


	4. Ripples in Reality

**Chapter 4: Ripples in Reality**

At first glance it might appear as if they Mecha-koopas were vandalising Eggman's metal fortress, but it depended on how you looked at things. From the perspective of the real King Bowser, who'd found himself in the middle of a treasure trove of futuristic technology the likes of which the Mushroom Kingdom had never dreamed of, it was interior decorating. After a lot of effort, the Mecha-koopas managed to crack open the last valve, spilling out tons of molten metal around the perimeter of the base.

"See, Junior?" said Bowser, overlooking the operation from the vantage point of the observation dome at the top of the superstructure. "A moat of lava is exactly what this place needs to be a fitting castle for us."

"It looks great, Pa!" Bowser Jr shouted in reply.

The youngest Koopaling was flying around the vast metal corridors in an Eggmobile. He'd found out right away that it was no harder to pilot than his father's Koopa Clown Car, and to his delight he also found that the control-freak creator of this place had modified the vehicle to serve as a control unit for just about everything with a circuit around here. In just the short time they'd been here, they'd been able to get the manufacturing plants running, producing hundreds of Mecha-koopas by the hour. The amazing resources of the factory had not only been able to replicate the mechanical Koopas based on Bowser's hastily-sketches blueprints, but had even improved upon the design with titanium claws, built-in flamethrowers, and advanced AI systems that made each one super-advanced compared to the original models that patrolled the castle in the Valley of Bowser, back home.

Of the Koopalings, only Junior, Ludvig and Roy had awoken along with their father in this metal fortress. There was no sign of the others, but Bowser had faith that they were fine, and wreaking havoc where they were. Ludvig, the composer, remained the intellectual of the family, and while his knowledge of sorcery couldn't compare to the Head Magikoopa Kamek, he was able to ascertain what exactly had happened when the spell went wrong.

"Simply put, the banishment spell backfired," he explained. "We've arrived in a different world, with physics that don't match our own. I've checked the library downstairs, and strangely enough, here toadstools don't give humans superpower, but poison them instead, and apparently they don't grow more than half a foot in height, compared to the tower-sized ones we have back in our world."

Similar conclusions were being reached by the boy genius fox who'd met up with Mario on the tropical plains, far away.

"So you got a message from someone named Toad, who wasn't a toad, who'd dressed up as a...a Lakitu to spy on that villain, Bowser, who was planning to cast a big bad spell that would banish his enemies from your world?" Tails summarised, and was happy to see Mario nod enthusiastically. "But, if you arrived her together with one of Bowser's kids, then the spell must've gone wrong. But...that doesn't explain why it's so hard to recognise that you're not Sonic. Unless..."

In the other world, Dr Eggman the genius scientist thought aloud in the large empty makeshift throne room of the Koopa fort, as he considered the situation he'd accidentally created through that Chaos Control catastrophe.

"That blast of raw energy cut a hole through the interdimensional barriers, carving through to the specific reality where the boundary was weakest at that precise moment in time," Eggman said, while writing down complex phycics equations on a notepad that he carried with himself at all times, just in case. "Holes in the universe itself were cut, holes in the shape of this character called 'Mario', and this turtle king, called 'Bowser'. The law of conservation of mass demanded that the newcomers to this reality would fill the holes left by the ones removed from, yes, this reality. The interdimensional barriers are trying to repair themselves naturally, that's why Sonic and I are being forced to fill the roles that are missing. According to my calculations, given enough time the dimensional hole will seal, and Sonic and I will lose all trace of our true identities, replaced with the ones enforced by this dimension How...how to prevent it?"

Ludvig von Koopa thought long and hard about the problem. Finally, he said "It must be the wands. Roy, Junior and I - we've all still got the wands we used for the spell. Magic isn't supposed to exist in this world, so to repeat the spell, we've got to get back the magic items that arrived here with us. The Ultimate Star might be here, too. Fortunately, there's no Mario to get in our way here, and we've got a shiny new army of Mecha-koopas. It'll be easy!"

Tails made up his mind. "Okay, Mario, let's go look for Sonic. I'm sure he'll help you find those Koopa people so you can get back to your own world. Trust me, Sonic has never failed to meet a challenge. It'll be easy!"

Eggman pulled the red Chaos Emerald out of his pocked at stared at it thoughtfully. "Gathering the keys to the dimensional tear, the 7 Chaos Emeralds, would give me the power to enforce my true presence in this reality, and be fully recognisable as Dr Eggman the greatest genius of all worlds, and enable me to return home. However, putting all the keys to the catastrophe together in one place a second time might inadvertently expand the tear until it causes the two dimensions to pour into one another and be swallowed up, which would probably erase both of them from existence permanently."

"This is not going to be easy."

Next: Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom


	5. Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom

**Chapter 5: Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom**

Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't figure out what was wrong. Apart from the loss of size, he was finding it harder and harder to maintain his natural speed. He was actually getting tired of running from the Koopa Troopas. He had to be sick or something. Normally it would take days of non-stop running for him to feel even the slightest bit of fatigue. Come to think of it, why did he suddenly think of the turtles as...Koopas? What the heck was a Koopa?

Preoccuppied with questions he barely understood, Sonic wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Organised squads of Koopas kept popping out of nowhere and forcing him to detour. It wasn't until he had to screetch to a halt at the edge of the lake that the hedgehog realised he'd been tricked.

Koopas closing in from every direction, Sonic looked around wildly for anything that'd help. Question mark boxes, red mushrooms, a green mushroom partly hidden behind some blocks, coins floating in the air, fiery red flowers with eyes, a big white egg covered in green spots, an easily-catchable feather being blown by the wind, a glowing star bouncing around over there, a strange button-like object with a big P on it, and a suspicious number of green pipes rising out of the ground... Why wasn't there anything useful!?

In top form Sonic could probably manage to run across the very surface of the lake, but with this mysterious affliction hampering his abilities, he didn't dare attempt it now. What he wouldn't give for a handful of rings right about now.

The Koopas were almost upon him. Dodging projectiles like hammers and boomerangs, Sonic vaulted the nearest green pipe in the vain hope at the sewer lines around here were drained. He nearly leapt right into the mouth of the ravenous toothy plant that emerged from within it. Sonic summersaulted backwards instinctively, and this time going with instinct was a bad idea, because the jump landed him far enough from the shore that he immediatelly sank like a stone.

The Koopas stopped at the water's edge.

"Would you look at all these power-ups?" said one of them. "This must be one of those secret areas where the Toads stockpile them. Why do you think Mario ignored them all?"

Arms folded in annoyance, Sonic rapidly sank to the bottom. He was going to try what he always did when landing in one of these situations, which was wait until he reached a surface, and then try walking back to shore. It was all he knew to do, though he had to keep his fingers crossed that there would be air bubbles in this world as well.

Something was glowing through the murky darkness. Sonic reached out...and got stung by the electric jellyfish. Keeping perfectly still, letting his eyes adjust to the dark, Sonic made out more jellyfish...hundreds of them, at least. It was just as well he didn't know how to swim, because he'd have to be crazy to attempt to navigate through this forest of electric death. To make an understatement, this really REALLY wasn't the blue hedgehog's day.

Starting to run a little low on air... How much deeper could this possibly be? Sonic looked down, and felt panic rise again, as he spotted a blue glow directly in the path of the hedgehog's descent. Sonic thrashed about, but could do little to prevent himself landing right on top of the electric jelly.

Huh? Wait, that was no jellyfish, it was some kind of rock. A very familiar feeling cut through the pain of running out of air...

The Koopa closest to the water watched the bubbles on the surface cease. "Er..." he said. "You guys don't think that...?"

The blue blur exploded out of the water and landed on top of the Koopa hard enough to knock him out of his shell and send the shell crashing into the Koopa Troopas unfortunate enough to be standing directly behind him. Sonic the Hedgehog, full-sized and drying up fast, grinned confidently at his opponents, tossing the blue Chaos Emerald playfully into the air and catching it again.

As the Chaos Emerald energy channeled into the hedgehog's body, the assembled onlookers got a sharp taste of otherworldly reality, and saw clearly that what stood before them wasn't Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom at all, but...

"Harry Hedgehog?" said a Koopa whose mouth was hanging open.

_((AUTHOR's NOTE: There's an enemy in Yoshi's Island that's basically a blue hedgehog whose quills shoot out when you get too close. Nintendo weren't being subtle about the reference.))_

"I'm Sonic," said Sonic. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"

All doubt lost, Sonic jumped, rolled into a ball, and gave the Koopa army a direct and painful lesson in character recognition. Five minutes later, the last surviving un-shelled Koopas ran away, leaving a smug and satisfied otherwordly hero behind. Now that the tables were turned, Sonic intended to return to that fort and get some answers from whichever jerk was in charge of those turtles.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Emerald in hand, started running. There was nothing holding him back now. For the first time since he'd arrived in this world, he truly felt like himself again.

Next: Mecha-koopa invasion


	6. MechaKoopa Invasion

**Chapter 6: Mecha-koopa invasion**

Tails dropped Mario near the edge of the rock outcrop and landed beside him. From here they had a clear view of Eggman's base. Tails had suggested the place as a likely zone to locate Sonic in, as he remembered Sonic making some comments about getting Eggman to give back what didn't belong to him, last time they met briefly. Although the base was now clearly floating in a pool of lava-like substance, and looking like it'd been point zero for a furniture-hating hurricaine, Tails didn't worry at the sight of it. This was a pretty normal state for one of Eggman's hideouts once Sonic was done. 

"This is the kind of place where the biggest bad guy in our world usually lives," Tails explained to Mario. 

Mario wasn't paying attention. He was looking at the tell-tale signs before him, particularly the top spire of the observation dome in the middle of the base that had been twisted into an unmistakable resemblance of a certain dragon-turtle's face. And with a little squinting, he was sure he could make out the suspicious individual shapes amongst the flood of silvery metal pouring from the gateway and out into the surrounding wasteland. 

"Hey, what are those things?" Tails asked after taking a look in the same direction. "They kind of look like...clockwork turtles?" 

"Bowser!" Mario uttered, narrowing his eyes resolutely. 

Before Tails had time to react, Mario jumped over the edge and picked up a remarkable speed by sliding down the almost vertical drop on his rear. Landing in the middle of the flood of Mecha-koopas, Mario got to work immediatelly. 

Tails took flight, intending to grab the stubby human and pull him to safety before he got himself killed. He was more than a little surprised to see Mario grab a clockwork turtle by the tail and start spinning on the spot with whirlwind speed, smashing and tossing robots all around him. He stopped spinning withot the slightest bit of dizziness and threw the bot like a bowlling ball, clearing a straight line through the enemies towards the entrance to the base. 

Stunned, Tails could do little more than follow the chubby plumber across the metal bridge to the gigantic gateway. He'd never dreamed that a human could fight like that. 

An observer watching from the outside would only have to wait a minute before more action ensued, as both Mario and Tails fled back outside at high speed, pursued by a firestorm generated by Bowser Junior's modified Eggmobile. 

"Mamma mia!!" Mario yelled out, having been caught briefly by a burst of super-heated flame. With smoke rising from his backside, he did run a lot faster, though. 

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here, Mario!" Junior yelled, working the command console of the Eggmobile. "But it doesn't matter. This time you're definitely in well over your head, mustache-man! There's enough supplies in that abandoned factory we took over to build a Mecha-koopa army large enough to take over the Mushroom Kingdom ten times over! Don't worry, though. We're not planning on going back until we conquer this funny planet and destroy YOU for good!" 

Mario, finally extinguished, turned around to face down Bowser Junior, clenching his fist in anger. 

"Give it up, Mario," Junior laughed. "See any power-ups around here? There aren't any! No mushrooms, no fire flowers, nothing to get your fat form flying, and definitely no stars!" 

"You villains better give up while you've got the chance," Tails cut in suddenly. "When Sonic gets here, you won't stand a chance!" 

"Huh. Never heard of him," said Junior dismissively. 

Mario jumped suddenly, dodged the flames in mid-air, and delivered a powerful kick to the Eggmobile that sent it colliding with the outer wall of the metal fortress, and nearly dropping into the lava moat, before Junior got back control. 

"Grrrr!" went Junior, now shaking with frustration. "Fine. No more gloating. Let's just cut to the chase. Mecha-koopas!! GET THEM!!" the child Koopa prince screamed. 

Hundreds, thousands of Mecha-koopas with wings poured out of hangar bays opening all along the perimeter of the fortress. These were bigger, spikier, and considerably more fire-breathing-ish than their defeated predecessors. Tails grabbed Mario without hesitation and started to retreat. But as he would soon discover, and the grinning Junior already knew, these enhanced Mecha-koopas could keep up with a flying fox without any trouble at all. 

Death in the form of fire and metal rapidly caught up with the fox and the otherworldly plumber. 

Next: Chaos Emerald Hunt


	7. Chaos Emerald Hunt

**Chapter 7: Chaos Emerald Hunt**

Dr Eggman resented having to make due with the low-tech resources available to him. In this time period where the higher tiers of society still resided in medieval castles, and soldiers made due with weapons as primitive as the average hammer, Eggman could only thank his lucky stars that they at the very least had television. That their idea of a video surveilance was a Lakitu with a camcorder was an acceptable flaw. The sorry excuse for "modern technology" was at least sufficient for giving the doctor a clear image of how the hedgehog was faring. 

Eggman with glee as Sonic was cornered at the lake. Glee turned to concern, as he watched Sonic fall into the water. Concern became surprise when Sonic shot out of the water holding a Chaos Emerald. Finally, surprise became annoyance when a Koopa shell ricocheting off a rock in the midsts of the battle hit the Lakitu with the camera and effectively killed the transmission. 

As he sat on the crude stone throne, tapping the armrest impatiently, Eggman considered the one positive side to awaiting a rude arrival by that interfering hedgehog - you never had to wait long. 

The sound of crashing and screaming coming from the antechamber was warning enough. 

"You're late!" Dr Eggman exclaimed as Sonic walked over the unconscious body of the Hammer Bros in charge of the garrision. It was a phrase Eggman used often, and not coincidentally. He knew it annoyed Sonic to be accused of being late for anything. 

"Hpmh!" went Sonic, storming towards the throne. 

"If you think defeating me is going to help you get back to our own world, then you're wrong," Eggman pointed out quickly.

Sonic stopped. "Are you telling me you're not responsible for that huge Chaos Control blast? That you only swiped the Chaos Emeralds so you could concuct reserach for the good of mankind? C'mon, doc, what do you take me for, some gullible echidna?" 

"Catch," said Eggman simply, taking something out of his pocket and tossing it across the floor. 

Sonic jumped aside, expecting a bomb or something. He was so certain Eggman was trying to pull something, that he still didn't reach towards the red Chaos Emerald when he recognised it. 

"My arch-nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog...if my Chaos Control Conductor had worked as I planned, I would've used it to send you to the other side of the universe or into a black hole. What good would it do me to send us both to this backwards world? I can't build Eggmanland on a planet that hasn't even invented the microchip yet! Just bringing the technological evolution to the level of Earth would take a lifetime." 

"Huh. Suppose I believed you," said Sonic. "Do you even know how to get back home?" 

"Indeed I do. Gather the seven Chaos Emeralds and use their power to travel back through the rift in the interdimensional barrier." 

"What about the Master Emerald?" 

"You know about that too?" Eggman asked in an irritated voice. 

"Are you kidding? Do you have an idea how hard it was to convince Knuckles to let me take point in case he screwed up. Heh, though I guess he couldn't have blundered this one worse than you, Eggy." 

"The Master Emerald was supposed to counter-effect the power of the Chaos Emeralds. If it was functioning as it should, it will have been repelled by the dimensional tear just as the Chaos Emeralds were attracted to it." 

"So let me get this straight. All I've got to do is find the other five Emeralds, use Chaos Control, and I'm home free? How can you be sure I won't just leave you here, Eggman?" 

"Because you're the hero, and the only way to seal the hole between here and there is to take everything that crossed over with you when you return. You'll have no choice but to take me with you, and...you'll have to hunt down Metal Sonic for me." 

"Metal's here too?" Sonic exclaimed. 

"Yes. The Koopa troopas have spotted the robot several times. The Metallix virus I was using to control it was linked to a satelite relay thanks to a couple of GUN satelites I hijacked a few months ago. Needless to say, Metal Sonic is too far out of range for me to be able to shut it down now." 

"Dang. Fine, I'll beat him again. But hey, why do those turtles, those Koopas obey you?" Sonic asked, now tapping his foot impatiently. 

Eggman smirked. "Because to their eyes I am King Bowser, ruler of all Koopas," he said, chuckling. "Just like you're Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. The only reason why your true identity can be seen clearly now to the denizens of this world is because the Chaos Emerald you found is amplifying your, your 'otherworldly presence', so to speak." 

"Great... Well, where are the real Bowser and Mario?" 

"In our world, I suspect. Hopefully keeping a low profile. There's one thing you need to understand, Sonic. The more of an anchor we create in this dimension, the more of a risk we'll be creating. At the moment there's a fragile balance, but too much pressure at either end of the conduit could cause a cataclysmic chain reaction would result in the nullification of both worlds!" 

Sonic didn't get it. "I don't get it," he said. 

"It's a problem best handled with an IQ of 300, hedgehog. Why should I lie? This planet has nothing to offer me, so why should I delay my only chance to return? Suffice it to say that you'll have to leave those two Emeralds with me." 

"What? Why?" 

"Just having all seven Emeralds in the same place for any length of time could be enough to tip the balance. It's vitally important that they be kept seperate until the precise and hopefully brief moment we use them to return home!" 

"Hey, you've got a comfy thing going on, doc, but if you think I'm going back to shrunk slow-mode, you've got another thing coming." 

"No! It's too risky. Since you and your friends used the Chaos Emeralds to defeat Metal Sonic last time, it will be trying to beat you to them. If it already has the other five, then just the two of you being in the same general area would be disastrous!" 

Sonic, looking annoyed and defeated, handed the blue and red Chaos Emeralds to Eggman. "Just so you know, doc," he added on his way out. "When we get back home, there's going to be some serious payback for all this." 

"When I get my lab back, we'll see about that. This is a temporary truce and nothing more." 

_Next: Too many Koopas_


	8. Too Many Koopas

**Chapter 8: Too many Koopas**

The fire-breathing flying Mecha-koopas were close enough now that Tails could feel the heat stinging his fur. He'd been in plenty of dangerous situations before, but they'd never looked as hopeless as this. Slowing down for even a second would mean instant flaming death, and even flying at full speed, he didn't stand a chance of outrunning the robots without dropping Mario, and the idealistic fox's conscience would never let him live with sacrificing another person to save his own hide.

Tails shut his eyes and prepared for the inevitable. With his eyes closed and the loud roar of the Mecha-koopas directly behind him, the fox didn't hear the approaching sound of devastation until it was upon him.

Rebounding from robot to robot, firing Chaos Spears at any that got in the way, Shadow the Hedgehog flew through the air, essentially surfing the tide of Mecha-koopas. He caught up with Tails and Mario just as they fell back into the cloud of metal, and grabbed them both after delivering a crushing blow to the robot that was about to fry the fleeing pair. Holding Tails by the scruff of his neck and Mario by the suspenders of his blue overalls, Shadow gently dropped down to the barren ground below, and started air gliding forward at high speed.

Five minutes later the three of them were far enough away to stop and talk without worrying about being rudely interrupted by ten thousand interchangeable metal Koopas. Shadow seemed to have done some investigating on his own, judging by the first answer he demaded from Tails.

"How do you intend to seal the hole before it destroys everything?"

"What?" said Tails, completely lost.

"Thank you very much for to saving us," said Mario politely.

Shadow turned to Mario as if noticing him for the first time, and stared him down so aggressively that Mario found himself taking a few steps backwards to avoid the black hedgehog's glare.

"Your physique. You're not a human of this world, are you? You're one of them. Get back to your allies and go back to your own world before it's too late," Shadow demanded, keeping his voice calm but deadly serious.

"Shadow, what are you talking about?" Tails asked, exhasperated.

"You don't even know?" said Shadow.

Dr Eggman was right. The matter of an interdimensional breach, and the potential consequences of an escalation, was one best handled by an IQ of 300. But between Shadow's innate sensitivity to Chaos Control and Tails's nearly equal IQ to the evil doctor, they managed to bring the facts of the situation to light.

The overpowered explosion of Chaos Control energy caused when Eggman's machine failed and released the energy of all seven Chaos Emeralds had been so powerful that Shadow had felt it from halfway across the country. With his limited Chaos Control powers, Shadow had succesfully teleported to the scene of the accident and witnessed the arrival of the Koopa royal family. Keeping out of sight, he'd pinpointed the precise point of origin of the dimensional tear, and by trying to sense the Chaos Emeralds through the hole, he'd been able to determine both the size and nature of the hole - most importantly, he'd discovered that it was expanding at an exponential rate. There was no doubt that the alien creatures called Koopas were from the world on the other side, and the more of their influence they carved on this side, the more the hole expanded. With their current plans for conquering Earth before even considering trying to get back their home world, the complete and total destruction of the entire universe would be a fact in just a matter of days.

In light of the crisis Tails made sure to point out that Mario was definitely not working with the Koopas. Mario, with few words but plenty of gestures, made it clear that he would do everything in his power to stop Bowser.

"Hpmh! No need for your help, human. I am the Ultimate Lifeform, and this won't be the first time I've stopped an alien invasion," said Shadow.

"We'd better be careful, Shadow," said Tails. "If they're from a world with physics different from our own, then they might have some powers that yours won't protect you from. Like, just look at this thing."

Tails took out the wand he'd been carrying with him since that first meeting with Mario and the Koopa prince. Shadow took it.

"What's this? I don't feel any energy from it. It's just a toy," Shadow said dismissively, handing the wand back, which Mario grabbed.

Mario looked at the wand with a serious expression, and then suddenly thrust it out in the direction of a pile of rocks. A beam of light emanated from the jeweled tip and struck the rocks, transforming them into oily black goop.

Mario shrugged. "It is just magic," he said as if it were the most mundane thing in the world, which from perspective, it probably was.

"Wow! Real magic, that's amazing!" Tails shouted, looking excited.

Shadow simply grunted. This complicated things.

_Next: Dealing with Mushrooms_


	9. Dealing With Mushrooms

**Chapter 9: Dealing with Mushrooms**

Sonic the Hedgehog darted between crushing pistons at high speed, leading the pursuing robots to their doom. The few ones that managed to avoid getting smashed found no hedgehog interloper on the other side, but a ramp leading to a sheer wall. Sonic shot upwards, running at a ninety degree angle and playing hookey with gravity. He jumped backwards at just the right time to land inside the narrow opening of an air duct. The preying mantis robots on the other side of the duct got the unpleasant surprise of their target exploding out of the floor beneath them, tearing through the one unfortunate enough to be posted in his path. Two mantis-bots both threw their boomerang scythes. Sonic dodged both blades, then skidded to a full stop right in front of the now unarmed robots. The hedgehog's smug expression would've been infuriating to the robots if they'd had anything to process emotions with. The appropriate emotion for the next moment would've been "shocked surprise compounded with fear of immediate destruction", because Sonic jumped straight up at the last possible second before the boomerang blades, making their comeback performance, hit him, and as a result the two unprepared mantis-bots got skewered by their own weapons.

But that happened some time ago. Right now Sonic was waking up from uneasy sleep to meet his second day in the Mushroom Kingdom. His feet still felt sore from yesterday and that wasn't right, because he'd only done a measly three mile run from Eggman's place, which was nothing. Giving up the Chaos Emeralds had been a really bad idea, especially if they were what kept the freaky effects of this world from getting to him - but if half of what Eggman had said was true, then it really was too risky. His best bet right now was to find the rest of the Chaos Emeralds before Metal Sonic did.

"Hey Mario!!" someone shouted.

Sonic sighed. Eggman had warned him about this sort of thing. "Fine," he said under his breath, "I'm Mario."

A newcomer to the hall of weirdoes made its appearance over the edge of the grassy knoll where Sonic had spent his night under the stars (He'd tried to see if he could spot any familiar constellations, but it'd been a fruitless effort).

"Hey...you," said Sonic.

"Mario! You've got to come quick! The Princess has been kidnapped, again!" shrieked the little kid, who looked like a cross between a mushroom and a...well, a kid.

"And it's my job to rescue her, right?" said Sonic.

Toad blinked. Mario had never responded like that before. Usually, he didn't even respond - just nod and get to work.

"Uh, yeah. Of course. Y-you've got to come quick! I saw the culprit with my own eyes; it was a robotic Harry Hedgehog! Bowser must've sent it!"

That got Sonic's attention. The hedgehog might come off as rash, but he wasn't stupid. If Metal Sonic was plainly visible as who he really was instead of some bad guy from this world, then that meant Metal already had a Chaos Emerald on him. Maybe more. If Metal Sonic was still as obsessed with defeating Sonic as before, then the kidnapping could only be for one reason: To lure Sonic into a trap.

"Which way?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know which way the kidnapper went, but Toadsworth told me to go tell you to meet him at the Princess's castle. He said he's got something important to show you."

"I said, which way, kid?"

"Uhhh, that way, but I thought we'd take a warp tube. Nobody knows how to navigate through them better than you, Mario."

Sonic shrugged. If warp tubes meant anything to do with those green pipes visible all over the land, then forget it. He'd learned his lesson from the first one.

Toad looked at his hero. "You look a little beat, Mario. Here, I've got red mushroom you can have."

Sonic took the mushroom, and was about to politely explain the fundamentals of fungi, and why the red ones with white spots weren't a good idea to eat, when suddenly the mushroom faded into golden sparks, and Sonic felt all his aches evaporate.

"Which way did you say the Princess's castle was?"

"That way, Mario, but-"

"Thanks!"

With that, Sonic grabbed Toad, and started running. Toad, who'd never gone this fast even during the go-kart tournaments that were held every year, stifled a squel of fear and kept his hands over his eyes during the whole trip.

Meanwhile, far away, a robot hand with titanium claws dug into the soft dirt and excavated a familiar yellow gemstone. It matched the other gem in the robot's posession perfectly in every way except for colour. On the uncomfortable rock behind it, Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom struggled in vain against her expertly tied bonds.

_Next: Do the Mario!_


	10. Do the Mario!

**Chapter 10: Do the Mario**

At dawn literally thousands of Mecha-koopas flooded across the horizon, cutting straight through the wilderness (and more accurately stomping it underfoot), heading straight for the nearest bastion of civilisation with only one goal in mind: Destruction. Conquest would come later. Right now a demonstration of power was called for. The people of this world needed an education in respect and fear for their Koopa superiors. 

A short distance ahead of the approaching army, Shadow the Hedgehog detached the second ring bracelet and handed both to Tails. The accessories' simple appearance was decieving. They were products of super-advanced technology, invented to prevent the Ultimate Lifeform from becoming overpowered and burning out. So remarkable were the creations of Professor Gerald Robotnik that present day technology was still failing to catch up, over fifty years later. 

Mario didn't quite get what was going on. He'd agreed to stay behind and not get involved in the fight unless something went wrong. To contain the alien influence it was best to allow the champions of this world to deal with the matter in their own way. 

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Shadow?" asked Tails. 

"No," said the black hedgehog. "But it has to be done." 

Unforeseen problems were a guarantee now for the heroes, because a certain Koopaling that found herself lost in the middle of nowhere yesterday had come across the Mecha-koopa army as they marched during the night. Her ego wouldn't allow her to walk past a Koopa force that powerful without taking charge and taking credit, so she'd mounted a robot and joined the attack. 

Mario and Tails watched Shadow kick into speed, his body burning with a dark red glow. Crossing the vast distance in seconds, he shot into the silvery army like a fireball at a bowling alley. The two watched the impressive display for about thirty seconds before the explosions suddenly ceased, and the army started to march again as if nothing had happened. It had all gone down too far away and with too many Mecha-koopas in the way for either Tails or Mario to make out what'd happened to Shadow. 

They looked at each other. Then, without a word, they started running towards the robots. When they clashed, it came down to years of experience fighting robots and Koopas, respectively, and the fierce fighting happened more based on instinct than conscious strategy... 

Mario slid between the metal maws, paused for a second to let them draw breath, then jumped out of the way as they sprayed intense flames, causing the bots to melt each other down. Tails spun around fast, turning his tails into makeshift whips, which knoced the Mecha-koopas off their feet. Mario ran past his furry new friend, grabbed a stunned robot by its tail, jumped, and threw the Mecha-koopa with enough force to smash a quartet of robots. A flying Mecha-koopa nearly fried Tails, but the fox spotted it in time, and smacked a detached robot head like a soccer ball, knocking the flying Mecha-koopa out of the air. Mario's whirlwind spin, extended by the length of a stunned Mecha-koopa in each hand, was clearing a wide space through the army. The brief respite gave Tails a chance to pull a screwdriver out of his shoe and make some quick minor alterations to the flying robot he'd shot down. 

Wendy O Koopa had had just about enough. First some upstart porcupine tried to get the way, forcing her to dirty her hands by paralyzing it with the power of her wand, and now that stupid plumber and his pet fox were in the process of ruining everything. They hadn't seen her yet, but that was going to change right now! 

Tails banged the side of his MacGyvered flamethrower to get it going. The powerful flame that shot out was enough to melt the armour plating of the nearby Mecha-koopas, causing their internal combustion engines to explode. Unfortunately, the Mecha-flamethrower was really hard to hold onto while it was spewing fire at full force. When the infuriated Koopaling jumped on top of the pile of trashed Mecha-koopas and fired a bolt of glowing energy from the tip of her wand, scorching the ground between Tails's legs black, Tails lost his grip completely, causing the perpetually-flaming robot-turned-weapon to fly forward like a missile. Mario jumped. 

Wendy advanced on the fox. "I'm going to turn you into a puddle of goo!" she promised. 

The glowing wand, ready to fire off another deadly bolt, filled Tails's vision completely. She had him in point blank range. Nevertheless, Tails jumped and spun his tails into a helicopter, trying to get away. Wendy reacted faster, though, and she would've succeeded in making good on her threat if Mario, riding the Mecha-koopa missile like a surf board, hadn't rocketed into her and snatched the wand right out of her hand. 

The bratty Koopaling could only watch in frustration as Mario flew around at high speed, zapping the remaining Mecha-koopas with the stolen wand, turning them into puddles of metal. She growled deep in her throat, and was likely about to let loose a tantrum of epic proportions. However, the next moment Wendy O Koopa was gone. She simply vanished without a trace. 

"That was weird," Tails said after they'd cleaned up from the battle and woken up Shadow. 

"It may be related to the dimensional instability," said Shadow, reattaching his golden bracelets. "If those wands work like an anchor to this world, then their removal would banish the owner." 

"What do you mean?" asked Tails. 

"I'm certain that Eggman and Sonic got sent to Mario's world, and possibly Metal Sonic as well. That's just three holes to fill. But if this human and eight dragon-turtles came through from there, then there's a displacement." 

"So that means we can beat the Koopas by taking away their wands, right?" said Tails. 

"Right. But it won't work with the last two. You'll have to send them back through the hole." 

"It's a-no problem," Mario assured Shadow. 

"Hmph!"


	11. The Defeat of Sonic the Hedgehog

**Chapter 11: The Defeat of Sonic the Hedgehog**

While Toad reviewed his lunch in the bushes of the royal garden, Sonic was escorted inside the magnificent castle belonging to the maiden ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sonic was unaware of the castle's history, and wouldn't recognise how well the place had been cleaned up and refurnished since Bowser's army captured the building and syphoned off all its Power Stars a while back. The lavish effect was singlehandedly spoiled by the sight Toadsworth had summoned the faux Mario to see. 

_"**RE**M**A**T**C**H S**ONI**C **TH**E **HE**DGE**HOG**"_

That simple sentence was everywhere. It was ripped into the tapestries, torn into the carpets, carved into the wallpaper, and engraved in the very rock wall itself. Metal Sonic wasn't being subtle this time, Sonic noted. 

"The perpetrator of this vandalism is the same fiend responsible for kidnapping our dear princess," said Toadsworth, fussing around. "The nerve! He didn't make even the slightest expression of remorse when the guards caught him right in the act of defacing this beautiful throne room. I dare say the wretch was perversely seeking attention to his crimes! Why else would he carve his name all over the room and not even care that he was seen?" 

Sonic had been nodding along, amiably humouring the old mushroom man, but now he'd caught a note out of key. "Say what now?" he said. 

"One of your old enemies out for revenge, eh Mario? I can't say I've ever heard of this 'Sonic the Hedgehog', but let me assure you that you have the full support of the Mushroom Kingdom in your mission to defeat this shameless villain and rescue our beloved princess." 

"Heh heh heh," Sonic chuckled. "No, you've got it all wrong. Sonic the Hedgehog isn't a bad guy. He's just a guy who likes live like the wind and go where his heart takes him, and when there's injustice around he charges into danger and saves the day. Why, even I, Mario, can't compare to a hero like Sonic the Hedgehog." 

"Very amusing, Sir Mario, but the only person I've ever heard of who comes even remotely close to that description of yours, is you, and as the royal scholar my knowledge is second to none. Now come along to the pipe vault down the road and I can show you how to catch up with this nefarious Sonic person." 

It wasn't much use trying to complain. 

Metal Sonic had been just as determined to leave a trace of his presence behind at the point of escape. The warp pipe Metal had used stood out for two reasons: The first; it was blue. The second was the petite royal crown belonging to Princess Peach, lying obtrusively in the middle of the opening. Sonic went through. 

The laws of physics didn't rule with the same iron fist in Mario's world as they did in Sonic's. Here a trip through a slice of subterranean plumbing could take you halfway across the world in just a few seconds, and with a funky sound effect. Sonic, who just one minute ago had been feeling the hot sun on his quills, now emerged in a dank tropical swamp filled with a mist of rain. At least the warp pipe was fixed on solid rock, but there was no sign of Metal Sonic anywhere around. 

Sonic glared at a tree frog out of the corner of his eye until it shut up and slithered off somewhere else. Predictably, he began tapping his foot impatiently- 

Began was exactly the right word. Before the tip of the shoe even had time to tap the rock surface underneath, a thunderstorm of yellow electricity crashed out of the sky and hit Sonic dead on. The hedgehog landed face-down in the mud. Looking up, he got to see a terrifying sight painted against the silvery canvas of the rain. Metal Sonic had had regained his old Neo Metal upgraded armour from the Egg Fleet Incident, except he'd done away with the tacky cape and put extra effort into the spikes, the shine, and the armour plating. That wasn't the scary part. It was the three Chaos Emeralds, one embedded into each arm, and one locked into the round hole of Metal's chest, that gave Sonic an immediate premonition of pain. Metal had the green, the white and the yellow Emerald. Crap. 

Metal grabbed Sonic by the scruff of his neck and started flying forward. Sonic might as well have entered a rope pulling contest with a Goliath's stronger older brother - Gigaliath. Metal Sonic indulged his nemesis by smashing the blue blur against every single tree they passed. The close proximity to the three Chaos Emeralds was a minor blessing. They gave Sonic back enough of his strength to take the beating, but still not enough to break free - and it still hurt like hell. 

Finally Metal Sonic stopped. He held out Sonic at arms length as if to inspect him. 

"Is that all?" sounded the cold metallic impersonation of Sonic's own voice. "You're nothing in this world. A pathetic waste of my time. I was programmed to defeat the mighty Sonic the Hedgehog, but this is just a weak and worthless shadow." 

"Heh," Sonic chuckled, trying to grin. "Guess you'll have to let me go and reschedual for a fair fight, old buddy?" 

"Hmmm...no. No, I'm going to kill you right now and finally be free of the torment of failing to complete my programming." 

In one fluid motion Metal's free hand transformed into a massive gun, which he aimed at Sonic's face. 

"This ends now," said Metal Sonic. 

_  
Next: Jolly fun times in Station Square_


	12. Jolly Fun Times in Station Square

**Chapter 12: Jolly Fun Times in Station Square**

Amy Rose, self-professed girlfriend and bride-to-be of Sonic the Hedgehog, wiped her hands on her apron and walked from the kitchen of the restaurant over to the table where the leading half of the Super Mario Bros was gorging himself on Italian quisine. She'd only had this part-time job at Station Square's most famous pizza & pasta palace for half a month, so she was now seriously reconsidering her offer to treat Tails and his new friend, especially considering how the latter was showing no signs of filling up. Apparently they were celebrating having thwarted some kind of robotic invasion. 

Meanwhile, a few blocks away inside the newly refurbished Twinkle Park, a lazy-eyed miscreant was having too much fun to be legal. 

Lemmy Koopa balanced expertly on top of his trademark rubber ball, balancing his wand on the flat of his hand. A couple of human park-goers were gathered around the dangerous Koopa prince, believing his unbalanced behaviour to be part of the theme park's entertainment. They believed so up until the point when Lemmy suddenly snapped out of his trance and zapped the balding old spectator who'd been complaining loudly about the poor quality of the performer's "turtle suit". While the squeling pig who'd once been human fled, the rest of the crowd broke into a panic. Lemmy continued zapping people at will, laughing maniacally all along. 

Needless to say, it wasn't long before Mario and Tails's lunch was interrupted. Being a recognisable hero of the city, Tails couldn't help being asked for assistance and quickly rushed off to the scene. Mario followed at a run, cleaning food out of his mustache with a napkin, and Amy followed, carrying the tab and a very large hammer. By the time the trio arrived at Twinkle Park, Amy immediatelly forgot all about the bill, because... 

Amy gasped. "Someone is wrecking Twinkle Park? That's where Sonic took me on our first romantic date together," said the pink hedgehog, remembering events slightly differently than how they really happened. "A troublemaker wants to ruin the memorial to our love? They will PAY!!" 

With the final utterance Amy's eyes glowed with fire and the hammer in her grasp grew three sizes. Physics in Sonic's world of Earth might be more realistic than Mario's, but the existence of hammerspace was still a fact here, and Amy was a grand master of hammer physics. 

"Mamma mia," Mario exclaimed in disbelief, peering out from his hiding spot behind Tails. 

Following the raging Amy like a pair of goats backing up a minotaur, Tails and Mario went inside the park. It wasn't long before they found the cause of the disturbance. 

"It's another Koopaling!" said Tails. 

"Lemmy Koopa!" said Mario. 

"Yaaaaa!!" said Amy, charging straight past the other two with her hammer held over her head. 

Weighing his odds wisely, Lemmy decided to retreat instead of staying to fight. Pretty soon the four of them made a comic sight, running in a line through colourful amusements and displays. They made it as far as the space kart ride before the rules of the chase changed. All four of them hopped into levitating go-karts and took off down the circuit through virtual space. It was by this time that Mario finally gained the lead. It wasn't for nothing that he was the three-time Kart Track champion back home. Mario forced Lemmy to steer wrong, which gave Amy a chance to run into the Koopaling's cart and jump across, swinging her hammer hard. Unfortunately, they hadn't counted on the automated surplus black racers, one of which smashed into Tails's kart hard enough to send the fox crashing into Lemmy, Amy and Mario, and tossing all four of them over the edge into the abyss. 

Hanging onto each other and falling like a screaming ball of...well, a Katamari, really. You know, that fun silly video game where you roll up random stuff into a ball, and then...anyway, they fell like one of those until they hit the edge of the virtual world and tore through the real blue-screen tarp, which tore under their weight, but also broke their fall enough to avoid broken bones when they hit the hard marble floor of the mirror maze chamber. 

Lemmy, to whom disorientation was the default state, recovered first, and wasted no time aiming his wand at Amy Rose and blasting her full in the chest. But all the magic beam hit was the mirror reflection of Amy, sending it ricocheting between the glass walls until it hit Lemmy from behind, turning him into a hermit crab. 

Mario picked up the third wand, and as expected the spiky-shelled hermit crab vanished. 

"Good riddance," said Amy. "Now can anyone explain what the heck is going on?" 

"It's a really long story, Amy." 

Meanwhile, quite a distance away, Shadow lurked silently through the metal corridors of the occuppied Eggman base. He was pleased to see that the Koopas had finally shut down their Mecha-koopa production plant after having their whole army reduced to scrap. But the big one called Bowser didn't seem to have given up yet. They were still planning something, but what? 

_Next: Hunting the Hedgehog_


	13. Hunting the Hedgehog

**Chapter 13: Hunting the Hedgehog**

In one fluid motion Metal's free hand transformed into a massive gun, which he aimed at Sonic's face. 

"This ends now," said Metal Sonic. 

Sonic stared into the expanding point of light inside the barrel of the weapon with a certain amount of trepidation. 

Suddenly Metal dropped his adversary in order to use the free hand to catch the gigantic bowling ball that was about to fall on top of him. He morphed his other hand back to normal in order to balance the weight of the object that was nearly three times his own size. Dazed and confused, Sonic raised his gaze to see Dr Eggman looking down at him from inside a freaky flying machine painted with a clown face. The doctor threw down an anchor attached to a slim chain, and yelled "Hurry! Grab on, Sonic!" 

Sonic obediently climbed up the chain as Eggman raised the altitude of the Koopa Clown Car. 

"This isn't over!" Metal Sonic promised, still struggling to shift the massive weight off his shoulders. 

Sonic hung on to the chain while Eggman pushed the Clown Car to its limits, accellerating across the vast swampy terrain. 

"What are you doing out here, Doc?" he asked. 

"I followed you," Eggman answered. "If Metal Sonic succeeded in killing you, then it would come after me next. I couldn't risk that." 

"Aw, you were worried about me, Eggman?" Sonic teased. 

"There's no time for games, hedgehog. Did you determine how many Chaos Emeralds Metal Sonic has acquired?" 

"Yeah, he's got three of them. I hope you brought ours along because I really need to level the playing field if I'm gonna beat that guy." 

"The Emeralds are in a safe place." There was that gleam in the doctor's thick glasses that he got when his incredible brain was working overtime. "Sonic, you need to cooperate with the laws of this world instead of trying to violate them. That's the only way you'll be able to defeat Metal Sonic, who still behaves as if this was Earth with all its mundane laws of physics. Sonic, I want you to use this." 

Dr Eggman held out a glowing yellow five-pointed star with two elongated black eyes. 

"A starfish? Are you kidding me, Doc?" Sonic asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

"It's a Power Star, hedgehog," Eggman patiently explained. "It will make you impervious to harm, hopefully long enough for you to get the Chaos Emeralds away from Metal Sonic." 

"Sheesh. Okay, Eggman. This better work." 

Thick grey smoke rose from the crumbled fragments of the oversized cannon ball. Nonchalantly brushing some grit off his armour, Metal Sonic stepped through the smoke. He didn't try to fly after his traitorous creator right away, because he knew there were better ways of making sure the hero returned to face the villain. Instead, Metal headed through the foliage to the dark clearing where Princess Peach remained gagged and tied to a tree with steel wire. Metal let his titanium claws catch the twilight in a terrifying way, foreshadowing what he intended to do to the princess. Once Sonic learned of her death he'd be certain to return. 

Peach's eyes widened as Metal moved to impale her on his claws. Then something like disco lights appeared from the entrance to the clearing and lit up the darkness. Metal Sonic turned around to see his biological twin's fur glowing in rainbow colours and sparkles surrounding him. 

"You know, Metal, I'm really going to have to hurt you for making me embarrass myself like this," said Sonic. 

One Sonic jumped the other Sonic, and the two wrestled furiously for nearly a minute until Metal manged to plant a cheap kick that knocked the now plain blue Sonic into the wall of tree trunks. 

"Heh, heh, heh." 

That was the wicked grin you could always spot on Sonic's face when it was time to teach the bad guy a painful lesson. The reason why Sonic hadn't been able to block that kick was clear: His two hands were both busy holding on to a Chaos Emerald each. Metal looked down at his own body in frustrated surprise to see that two of the sockets design to hold Emeralds were now empty of their precious prize. 

If this were a video game, the instrumental version of the main character's theme music would probably be playing in the background right now. But since it was real life, there was no music to accompany Sonic's triumphant comeback. The sound of supersonic fists and feet hitting metallic body would suffice, however. 

Peach, still fairly flabbergasted, watched her rescuer battle the robot hedgehog until eventually the robot shot a projectile directly at her, then made his escape while the heroic blue one caught the large bullet in the air and smacked it to the ground without any sign of getting hurt by the action. After that he was chivalrous enough to untie her and point the way back to the warp pipe before ripping off a quick salute and then taking off at an impossible turn of speed in the direction the robot had fled. 

"Oh my!" said Princess Peach. 

"Woo-hoo!!" shouted Sonic the Hedgehog, revelling in both the glow of success and the more literal glow of the green and yellow Chaos Emeralds. 

Underestimating Metal Sonic was never a good idea, but for now Sonic had him on the run. Eggman was keeping good on his truce, and together they now had a total of four Chaos Emeralds. Now it was a race to make sure Metal didn't get to the last two undiscovered Emeralds before Sonic could defeat his robot twin or find the gems first. 

_Next: Knuckles Crashes the Gates_


	14. Knuckles Crashes the Gates

**Chapter 14: Knuckles Crashes the Gates**

The Koopas were licking their wounds after the crushing defeat of their Mecha-koopa invasion army. King Bowser was launching into a tirade. 

"Mario, Mario, Mario!!" the grand Koopa ruler screamed, smashing both fists through the executive table of the mysteriously abscent creator of this metallic fortress. "Always getting in my way and ruining everything!" 

"It's strange," said Ludvig von Koopa. "Mario was nowhere near the castle hall where we set up the spell, so why did he get zapped across to this world with us while the rest of the Koopa Troopas remained behind?" 

But that was a conversation about things that had been discussed to death by more knowledgable people already, so suffice it to say that the royal Koopas weren't going to figure it out, but resolved to continue their efforts to defeat Mario and conquer this bizzarre foreign planet. 

"After seeing what happened to the so-called invincible Mecha-koopa upgrades this factory produced for us, I'm not so confident in the technology anymore," said King Bowser. 

"Don't worry, Pa," said Junior. "Those were nothing compared to the BIG project, and with the power source we found, it's gonna be invincible for real once it's done." 

"Wha' powah source?" asked the gruff voice of Roy Koopa, the brawn of the Koopalings. 

"Uff. The very large green gemstone, remember?" Ludvig reminded his brother in an impatient voice. "The one we found inside the big machine with the seven empty slots downstairs? Remember?" 

"Oh. Oh yeah. O'course!" 

Roy, along with his closest bro Morton Koopa Jr, was a powerhouse rivalling even King Bowser himself in his default uninflated form, but neither Roy nor Morton was particularly bright. 

"Why don't you go keep watch for intruders at the gate, Roy?" suggested Bowser. 

"Whatever you say, Pops," said Roy, who didn't mind. He'd been bored out of his skull at this meeting anyway. 

As already indicated, nothing new or particularly noteworthy would be said at the Koopa meeting, so let's instead follow Roy Koopa as he arrived in the entrance hall of the fortress just in time to witness a mighty pounding on the metal doors. Someone or something was attacking with enough force to leave impressions in the metal, visible as fist-shaped dents with two protruding spikes. 

"Eggman!" Knuckles the Echidna shouted through the closed doors. 

Roy Koopa raised his sunglasses to reveal an expression of uncertainty. Not even Mario with every power-up imaginable was that strong, and whoever was on the other side of the gates sounded like he had a serious score to settle. Roy thought about running back upstairs to the observation dome to alert Bowser, but then the intruder delivered a final punch that tore the left door off its hinges and revealed his identity to Roy who'd been fortunate enough to stand far enough back to avoid getting flattened by the sheer metal door. The intruder was little more than a long-haired furry pipsqueak, no larger than Roy Koopa himself. 

The two brawlers' eyes met, and they both started cracking their knuckles intimidatingly. 

"I'm here to take back the Master Emerald that Eggman stole," said Knuckles. "You're one of his henchmen, aren't you, turtle?" 

"Turtle!? I'm Roy Koopa, Prince of all Koopas, an' pretty soon gonna be ruling this world along with my pops, King Bowser! You've got a lot of nerve trespassing on our property, kitty-cat." 

"Kitty!?" Knuckles exclaimed, his tan muzzle turning red with rage and embarrasment. 

"Let's get ready to ruuuuumbleeee!!!" shouted a mighty voice through a microphone. 

Both Knuckles and Roy looked up at the tiny blue Flicky sitting on a protruding girder with an old-fashioned microphone held between its wings. The cute little bird with the oversized head grinned awkwardly. Knuckles was about to say something, but what would remain a mystery because Roy took the opportunity to sucker punch the echidna, and the fight was on. 

Gripping his swollen jaw, Knuckles countered with a left hook that knocked Roy clear across the room. The Koopaling instinctively shrank into its shell, making himself an improvised spiked wrecking ball, which crashed into the base of the girder, toppling the massive length of metal. 

"Tiiiimber!" shouted the Flicky, whom it was becoming evident was slightly deranged. 

Knuckles caught the falling girder, but found himself buckling under its incredible weight. The Flicky had danced along the length of metal as it fell, and now occuppied the space above where Knuckles was struggling to prevent himself from getting crushed flat. 

"Uh-oh, looks like the Champ is in trouble," the Flicky continued in its ridiculous 1930's referee voice. "The challenger has gotten his feet back in the ring, and is gaining speed. This could be the end, folks!" 

Because some efforts were worth the risk, Knuckles shifted the weight over to his right arm and used his free hand to reach up and grab the Flicky by the beak. Roy Koopa's quarterback rush was suddenly hindered by a feathered paperweight thrown in his face, constantly yelling "Foul! Foul!" By the time Roy finally managed to push the twisted bird away, the deafening sound of the girder hitting the metal floor had already been heard, and there was no echidna in the way to dampen the noise. This time Knuckles was the one throwing the sucker punch. Roy lost both his trademark glasses and the wand he thought he'd tucked away safely. It said something about the Koopaling that he went after his glasses instead of the wand, right before he vanished like the rest. 

"Huh," said Knuckles, staring at the spot where the Koopaling had been until a second ago. 

"Winner, by technical knock-out, and still reigning champion, Knuckles the Echidna!!" sang the Flicky, landing on top of Knuckles's head. "Got anything to say to all your fans watching at home, Champ?" 

"Get off me!" yelled the echidna, trying and failing to swat the rapidly-moving blue bird. 

Growling, Knuckles grabbed the wand off the floor, and tried to hit the Flicky with it. One might guess what happened next. Suffice it say that the scene was just as funny as imagined. 

_Next: The Birth of Super Metal Sonic_


	15. The Birth of Super Metal Sonic

**Chapter 15: The Birth of Super Metal Sonic**

Knowledge is power. It's a bit of a cheesy phrase these days, but Metal Sonic knew it for a fact. After all, it was absorbing and harnessing the data of his adversaries that allowed him to evolve to a point where he was nearly able to crush Sonic and his friends like bugs and conquer the planet. If Sonic hadn't been in posession of the seven Chaos Emeralds at the time, then Metal Sonic would've succeeded. All that precious data still remained stored in Metal's memory banks, but the sheer amount of electrical energy and metallic resources he'd need to regain his Metal Overlord form was too far out of reach now. But there was another way... 

Metal Sonic hadn't been wasting time while he waited for Sonic to arrive to rescue the Princess. The robot had spent the interval interrogating the girl for useful information about the alien world that had become the new arena for the ongoing battle between the blue hedgehog and his robot twin. One particular piece of information had caught Metal's attention in a big way. It seemed that a short while ago a certain villain called Bowser Junior had raided an archeological dig and stolen a recently unearthed energy source of fantastic proportions. Having witnessed first-hand the advantage Sonic could gain by utilising boosts native to this world, Metal decided that he should acquire a greater advantage for himself before attempting to defeat Sonic again. 

And so, following directions gained from the Princess and random bystanders that Metal stopped to intimidate along the way, the evil robot made the trek from the Mushroom Kingdom to the barren Koopa Kingdom. No more than an hour and a half since the confrontation in the swamp, Metal Sonic stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the ominous Valley of Bowser. Already, Metal's sensors could detect the energy radiating from the prize he sought. 

The fight through the castle was brief. The Koopa Troopas were in disarray due to the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the entire royal family, and many cowardly Koopas had fled, paranoidly believing that they'd only been lucky to avoid encountering the wrath of the Super Mario brothers. After all, Mario had been sighted at the castle gates before the pandemonium began, and who else could possibly pose a treat to the mighty Koopa King and his eight children? Needless to say, none of the remaining guards posed much of a hindrance to the Chaos Emerald empowered Metal Sonic. 

The Ultimate Star, still hovering above the abandoned royal chamber where Bowser had concocted the spell that sent him and his kids to the other world, glowed vibrantly. Metal Sonic basked in the radiance as he considered how he was going to absorb the star without risking a fatal electromagnetic power surge. The energy he read rivalled that of the Chaos Emeralds, but it had a different signature. 

Eventually, Metal Sonic's calculating synthetic mind reached a possibility. The same Data Encoding Camera that Metal had used to copy the data of the heroes was focused on the Ultimate Star, but with one significant alteration: Metal attached the Chaos Emerald to the lens in order to translate the energy into potential - the very same potential that the Chaos Emeralds amplified when they gave supernatural powers to beings and entities able to wield them. 

Metal Sonic attempted to copy and harness the data in front of him... 

The flash of light was visible from miles away, where Sonic was engaged in a fight with the other hero of the Mushroom Kingdom; Luigi. 

"What was that?" Sonic said aloud, but before he could think about it, his attention was diverted back to his opponent, who continued flinging fireballs at the hedgehog. 

Light would be cast on Sonic's situation as the story progressed towards a rewind of time, but for now the eye of the imagination should return to Bowser's castle, where a robotic being formed of burning orange and jet black hovered in the air on the spot where the throne room had been before the explosive surge of energy blew the walls and ceiling to rubble. 

"Ultimate data...has...been...copied!" Super Metal Sonic announced, clenching his fist. 

The Chaos Emerald lay amongst the rubble. Drunk on power, the robot twin in super form ignored it. 

The death of Sonic the Hedgehog was inevitable now. It was only a matter of time. 

And meanwhile, unknown to all, the tear in reality had just grown noticably larger, and was now expanding at an exponential rate. The countdown to oblivion continued. At the current rate of accelleration it would be all over in less than twenty-four hours... 

_Next: Flower-Powered Fox_


	16. Flower Powered Fox

**Chapter 16: Flower-Powered Fox**

"What do you make of this?" asked Shadow the Hedgehog. 

The Tornado II, Sonic and Tails's trademark aircraft, was parked a short distance away from the mysterious object Shadow had discovered while he ran solo in search of the remaining missing Koopalings. Tails and Mario had been flying around on the same mission when Shadow radio'd them. Right up close it looked like the trio were examining an unremarkable hill. Pan back, however, and the bizarre truth would become clear: The bright green hill was looking back at the group with vertically stretched black eyes. At one point it blinked, causing Tails to jump. 

"That's about the creepiest thing I've ever seen," Tails stuttered. 

Mario looked oddly at his companions. What were they so worked up about? It was just an ordinary hill. Sure, it looked out of place amongst the darker, wilder, grass plains around, but the notion of living landscape was surely not so unnatural? Suddenly Mario got an idea into his head of an entire planet of dead featureless land, lacking any eyes or life at all, and he felt more homesick than he'd done since he arrived. 

"There's more like this ahead," said Shadow. "Follow me." 

They travelled further into the twisted region, and there were indeed more slices of bright landscape that looked obviously out of place. More eyes, more geometric shapes of earth that didn't look right (Not like perfectly normal geometric shapes of land like the loops and mobius strips that could be found all over the world). At the heart of it all they found yet another anomaly. Of course Tails had seen item boxes before - he used them all the time, but this was just a block of solid material floating in the air. Someone had painted a big question mark on one side of the block. 

Two things happened near simultaneously. Mario, knowing exactly what to do, jumped up and bumped the block from below. Tails, feeling inquisitive, flew up on top of the block to see if it could support his weight. What happened next could be easily guessed, but the sight of it couldn't be predicted. 

The orange of Tails's fur was now plain white. That was about all that'd changed, at least until Tails started waving his arms around in an attempt to get a proper look at himself, and a fireball materialised out of his fingertip and nearly torched Shadow. 

In an instant Mario had an unpleasant flashback of having to run for shelter while his brother tried to figure out how to restrain his fireball flinging. He had enough foresight to duck when Tails turned towards him and accidentally let off two more fireballs by simply gesturing in the plumber's direction. The adaption of otherworld physics wasn't entirely perfect, because the next thing that happened was that Tails's glove caught fire. Waving his arms wildly to put out the flame, the fox inadvertently let loose a hail of fireballs in Mario's direction. In a desperate dance, Mario jumped, ducked, dodged and sidestepped a seeemingly endless suplly of fireballs, all the while trying to communicate to the fox that as long as he had the fire flower power-up, he couldn't be harmed by his own flames. 

Surely things couldn't get worse, but they did. A few of the dancing fireballs reached the threshold where the bright green grass of Mario's homeworld crossed over to the plain earthy grass of what Sonic and the other native would refer to as "the real world", and it was revealed that unlike the ground in the Mushroom Kingdom, this grass wasn't fire-retardant. 

With the grass fire encroaching the perimeter of the little bubble of Mushroom Kingdom, soon to be blanketing everything in a deadly blanket of thick smoke, Mario did what he had to do. He jumped up to where the fox was standing on the block and punched him as hard as he deemed necessary. It worked. Tails immediatelly reverted back to normal, with the only change being a black eye that Mario instantly felt ashamed of. 

"I'm a-sorry," he said, meaning it. 

Shadow wasn't about to stand idly by any longer. With a muttering of "Urgh, reckless!" he grabbed Tails and Mario, and dashed towards the one spot where the spreading wildfire hadn't walled them in. 

There wasn't much time to consider all of this until Tails and Mario were safely back in the plane. Shadow, having less faith in the fox's piloting skills than Sonic, continued on foot. 

"I don't understand," said Tails. "We stopped the Koopas' robot army, kept their influence contained, and banished three Koopalings already. So why is so much more of your world leaking over to our world, Mario? " 

"I don't know. Issa maybe something happening not here, but back where I am from." 

Semi-mute and occasionally whimsical, but Mario wasn't stupid by any measure. He was exactly right, and Tails couldn't argue. All their work here wouldn't do any good if the dimensional tear was broken open from the other side, where Sonic and Eggman had been sent. Tails felt worried, but still his unshakeable faith in his hero remained intact. Sonic would succeed, just like he always did. 

Mario looked back towards where they had flown from. The black smoke covered most of the horizon now, and the wildfire was likely still spreading underneath. To think that just a simple harmless fire flower could do so much damage in this world. Mario felt a dark foreboding. Things were going to get worse from here on. 

_Next: Sonic versus Luigi_


	17. Sonic vs Luigi

**Chapter 17: Sonic vs Luigi**

Luigi, twin brother of the world-famous Mario, was not having a good week. Overall, he'd made his peace with the fact that he'd probably never be as renowned or recognisable as his brother, but sometimes the frustrations piled up until they really got to him. It started the other day with a simple comment overheard on the street... 

_"Hey, isn't that the hero Super Mario!"  
_

_  
"Really!?"  
_

_  
"No, wait. Nevermind, it's just some nobody who kind of looks like him."_

Then, while that affront still lingered in his consciousness, Luigi got wind that Mario had departed alone for the Koopa Kingdom with the intent of challenging the villains for some kind of really important stolen artifact. Toad had been the one who discovered what the Koopas were up to, and, as usual, he'd run straight to Mario with the news and completely ignored Luigi. It had been too long since that Mansion incident, when Luigi got to bask in some glory solo after saving the proverbial day, and the younger brother was starting to pine for an opportunity to show what he was made of. 

It was this frame of mind Luigi was in when the blue blur shot past him, knocking the green man off his feet. Even though the deformed Harry Hedgehog was curteous enough to double back and skidded to halt in front of him with an apologetic expression, Luigi wasn't going to listen. 

"Sorry about that," said the first speech-competent HH Luigi had ever met. "Did you see a robot who kind of looks like me go past here with a gemstone that kind of looks like these two?" 

The intercangeable same-named species of blue hedgehogs had been allies of the nefarious Koopas for decades. This one had a lot of nerve coming up to the superhero plumber like he was some random unimportant bystander and demanding answers. Luigi now had a means of venting some of his frustration. 

Sonic turned his head towards the distance, while he waited for a reply from the flabbergasted man in green, feeling a little worried about what Metal might be getting up to next. The robot had already proved that he wasn't above kidnapping and attempted murder of royalty. The immoral rogue replica clearly wasn't going to shun any means of achieving his goal. 

Luigi punched the Hedgehog in the gut, causing it to lose its obviously stolen jewels. There was a flickering in Luigi's vision, and then suddenly there was Mario sitting right there with the wind knocked out of him. 

"Wha...?" said Luigi. 

The illusion abruptly ended, revealing the deformed Harry Hedgehog for what it was. Some kind of spell, Luigi decided, intended to pass off a fake Mario and discredit the plumber. Well, Luigi definitely wasn't going to let that happen. Though he might get jealous at his brother at his time, he still remained unshakeably loyal to his family. This villain was going to pay. 

Sonic wasn't too happy either. How was anyone supposed to be able to tell friend from foe in this world? Fellow anthropomorphic animals were evidently bad guys, and now apparently this human was also an evil-doer of some sort. Was he seriously expected to wait around and see who got taken hostage just to be able to pinpoint the good guys? 

Luigi reached into his back pocket, accessing the stash he'd reserved for just such an eventuality. He pulled out the fire flower and let its power take root, so to speak. The Hedgehog wasn't too alarmed at his fabulous clothing-colour-changing power, but it took the hint once Luigi let loose a series of fireballs in its direction. 

"Yikes!" Sonic uttered, jumping back from the Chaos Emeralds he'd been reaching down to retrieve. 

At first it looked like Luigi had the fiend pinned, but then it got a handle on the situation and put on a cheeky grin that only served to agitate Luigi further - although not as much as when the overpowered Harry Hedgehog started running in wide circles around the plumber, moving and reacting so fast that it become all but impossible to aim a fireball. 

"Ready to calm down yet?" said Sonic's voice right next to the human's ear. By the time he turned around, the hedgehog was fifty feet away, giving a friendly but infuriating wave. 

Luigi let off another series of fireballs, but just like before his enemy moved out of the way before the bouncing balls of flame could even make it halfway to where it stood. 

Sonic was ready to finish the fight with a quick jump and a homing attack when suddenly a painfully bright flash of light left him momentarily blinded. 

"What was that?" Sonic said aloud, but before he could think about it, his attention was diverted back to his opponent, who continued flinging fireballs at the hedgehog. 

Having had the mistfortune of facing the direction of the flash just as it flared, Sonic could barely see more than blurs of colour and light. He mis-timed his jump, and the next thing he knew a painful searing heat scorched his legs. Sonic rolled instinctively as he hit the ground. Blinded and burned, he wasn't sure he'd be able to move fast enough, even if he could see where he was going. He was a sitting duck- A sitting hedgehog. 

Luigi materialised another fireball in his hand, and prepared to finish off the insolent Koopa underling once and for all. Then something bounced off his head from behind. Looking down, Luigi instantly recognised the star-shaped tip of the royal wand belonging to the object of his, and Mario's, affection. 

"You leave him alone right now, Luigi!" sounded the indignant voice of the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Luigi turned to see Peach emerging from the nearest warp pipe. Mario and Luigi probably weren't aware of it, but after witnessing countless adventures the Princess was no stranger by far to the workings of the infinite pipe network. She'd forfeited her chance to return to the safety of the castle and had instead pursued her mysterious savior in the hopes of learning more. If even one of the Harry Hedgehogs was a champion of good, then there might be hope for finally dissolving the Hedgehogs' alliance with the Koopas. The occupation of monarch wasn't all decandence and pampering - Peach was a politician at heart. 

"But Princess, the Harry Hedgehog, it's a-" Luigi began. 

"HE saved my life," said the Princess, marching past the taller plumber. "Are you alright?" she added with concern to Sonic, kneeling down beside him. 

"I'll be fine," said Sonic, smiling gratefully. "Can you get me those two gemstones?" 

"Of course," said Peach sweetly, and then with a fierce commanding tone she said to Luigi "Do as he says! Bring the jewels to Sonic right away, Green Man!" 

Luigi, red in the face, obeyed without a word. Hearing that unappealing nickname from the Princess was worse than any amount of punishment dealt by the cruelest Koopa Troopa. 

Sonic took the Chaos Emeralds and achingly stood up. Crossing the gems over his chest, he concentrated and let a burst of energy flow through his body. Within seconds his vision cleared and this burns healed completely. 

"Luigi!" 

The plumber jumped at the sharp tone. 

"I order you to accompany Sonic on his mission to defeat the evil robotic Harry Hedgehog!" 

"Y-yes Princess..." 

Sonic blinked. He was sure he was missing something here. The Princess seemed to know who he was, or at least think she did. For some reason he got the feeling that he really didn't want to meet one of these "Harry Hedgehog"s before he finally managed to return home. 

_Next: Two More Koopalings_


	18. MarioMan & the Fox Wonder

**Chapter 18:  
Two More Koopalings  
Or  
Marioman & the Fox Wonder**

Mario Nolastnama and his young friend Miles Prower were enjoying a relaxing evening in front of the television set. The fox had redesigned and significantly expanded the size of his Mystic Ruins workshop thanks to funds donated by grateful wealthy citizens of Station Square after the boy singlehandedly saved the city from explosive destruction (Sure, the city got destroyed the very next day by a watery god-like serpent, but nobody's perfect). It was quite the fancy place these days, and with the furry mechanic's specially modified satellite, his old-fashioned TV had access to just about any and all TV stations on the planet. 

The moon shone down on Tails's workshop. Far away, the very same rays of moonlight spread over the bustling capital city known as Central City. It was all the more bustling tonight, due to the police sirens singing loudly over the noise of the traffic, as armored GUN vans were escorted towards the scene of the volatile hostage situation going down downtown. With a responsiveness easily equal to the police, reporters from various news stations converged on the scene, and by fortunate chance a certain pair of heroes had just turned to their right station to catch the following: 

"This is Jessica Generic reporting live from outside Central Mall, where just a short while ago a pair of criminal turtles barricaded themselves inside the building complex. Due to the special Midnight Sale held this week, hundreds of people are now trapped inside the building, likely being held hostage by the turtles. Attempts by local police to enter the mall have been unsuccesful so far, reportedly because of an unknown form of barrier technology employed by the criminals. GUN forces are arriving on the scene as we speak..." 

Mario stood up fast. "Let's a-go!" he said heroically. 

"This way," said Tails. 

The fox ran over to a bust of Dr Gerald Robotnik, who'd become a bit of an idol to Tails after he learned about the beneficial works of arguably the greatest inventor in history. Unceremoniously, Tails flipped back the marble head, exposing a hidden red button. He pressed the button, and at once an unsuspicious section of wall slid back to reveal twin poles leading down a narrow shaft. No stranger to pole-sliding, Mario joined Tails and they both slid down to the secret subterranian lair beneath. 

The Fox Cave contained most of the young inventor's more hazardous and unfinished creations, as well as his pride and joy: The Tornado II. 

Meanwhile, again, Morton Koopa Jr heaved another chunk of decoration in front of the main doors, and reinforced the magical barrier with his wand. He was limping slighty, having underestimated the prowess of the human security guards before managing to take down the last of them. They all seemed to have those pellet-flinging devices on them, and those pellets really hurt when they ricocheted off the Koopaling's scales. 

"There! That should hold them," he said. 

Morton rejoined his brother, Iggy Koopa, in the main atrium. All the stray humans they'd rounded up were tied up in nets and suspended from the giant display chandellier above the fountain in the middle of the cavernous chamber. Neither of the Koopalings understood why all the other humans outside didn't just give up and run around aimlessly in despair, like was the custom back home. If you kidnapped a Toad, then the rest of them should surrender on the spot and sit around dispairing until Mario or some other nosy jerk showed up. Trying to organise a counter-attack instead was just...well, rude. 

Outside the mall, the GUN troops took up positions around many exits. They also set up spotlights, in case the criminals try to escape via the roof, which was certainly large and flat enough to support a helicopter. The GUN lieutenant in charge of the operation was a bulky man with a fancy bronze mustache and a puffy cap instead of a helmet. By chance, or by fate, the lieutenant stood right in front of one of the spotlights as he listened to the report from the police sargeant present, so for the next few minutes a very familiar silluette was displayed on the dark clouds closing in over the night-time city. And far above, like a moth to the flame, the Tornado II flew towards the source of the signal. 

Jessica Generic, standing idly by as she waited for the opportunity to shoot her follow-up report, happened to look up at the sky at the right time to spot something. 

"Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing upwards. 

The GUN lieutenant had spotted it, too, but recognised the plane right away. He'd been part of the force sent to apprehend Miles Prower a while back when Sonic and his friends were framed as criminals. He knew that the president had issued a special dispensation for the heroic hedgehog and his allies, so to avoid a reprimand from his superiors' superiors' superior, the lieutentant ordered his men to allow the craft to land unhindered. 

After making a gentle landing on the roof, Mario and Tails kneeled down beside the sky light, which gave them a clear view of the atrium beneath. The news reporter had been right to use the plural. Two Koopalings in one spot. This was a really lucky break. Or not, if you looked at it another way, since that meant double the magical firepower, plus the villains had hostages. 

Mario wasn't about to hesitate, but Tails grabbed his arm and pulled him back. The fox pointed out that with the odds as they were, they'd need some extra tricks up their sleeves before trying to beat the Koopalings head-on. Tails reached behind the cockpit seat of the plane and pulled out his big box of gadgets. 

Five minutes later, Morton looked up. "Hey, Iggy, did you hear something?" he said. 

Mario crashed through the skylight, spinning at whirlwind speed. He landed in the fountain, splashing water all over Morton. Iggy, giggling evilly, as he was wont to do, whipped out his wand and pointed it towards the plumber. But before Iggy could zap his family's arch-enemy, Mario reached into his brand new utility belt and threw something at the Koopaling. The shuriken shaped like a fox's face with the hairy sides of its muzzle sharpened to points, stuck slightly into the dragon-turtle's armoured front, bleeped twice, and then exploded. Iggy got thrown on his back into the ornamental bushes. 

Morton hadn't gotten any water in his eyes after all, and so he didn't miss the opportunity to take advantage of Mario's momentary distraction and grab the plumber by the leg, lifting him up upside-down. The brawny fiend pulled his massive fist back to punch Mario straight into next week. Fortunately, Tails swung in from above on a wire and planted both feet on top of Morton's head. 

But it wasn't over that easily. 

Iggy's wiry arm extended from the foliage, holding his wand, and let loose a bolt of destructive energy. **ZAP!** The heroes managed to dodge, but Morton was already back on the offensive, and as Mario jumped to the side, Morton's fist met him halfway. **POW!** Tails quickly flew towards the source of the blasts, dodging more bolts as he got closer to Iggy. Mario felt the first punch, but he managed to duck under the second one, so that Morton instead drove his fist into the marble column behind the plumber. **SMASH!** Tails dropped down behind Iggy and whipped him with his tails while at the same time grabbing for the wand. **FHWAP!** Iggy's giggles only ended when he himself vanished from sight. While Morton rubbed his bruised fist, Mario ran behind the Koopaling and employed a tried-and-true method, as he grabbed Morton's tail and started swinging around on the spot, gaining speed, then releasing. Morton crashed head-first into the fountain. **SPLASH!** Morton's wand rolled to a stop on the floor where the Koopaling had dropped it in mid-flight. The last of the rogue Koopalings vanished. 

Mario took the fourth and fifth wands, and tucked them safely away. Before taking off again, Mario and Tails made sure to release all of the hostages. They made sure to depart before the GUN troops and police caught up with them, though. It would take way too long to explain everything to them, and now that the only thing left to do was to confront Bowser and the three Koopalings that Shadow had confirmed were holed up inside Eggman's fortress, they couldn't afford to waste time. 

Little did Mario and Tails know that Roy Koopa had already been defeated by Knuckles. Even less did they know that Knuckles had bonked himself on the head with Roy's wand and turned himself into a very irritable red non-anthropomorphic kitten that was even now stalking the corridors of the metal fortress. 

**Will Mario and Tails succeed in defeating Bowser, Junior and Ludvig von Koopa?  
Can Sonic and Luigi stand a chance against the power of Super Metal Sonic?  
When will Mario and Sonic finally meet?  
Just how painfully obvious are all the Batman references in this chapter?  
Find out next time, same bat-time, same bat-channel!**


	19. Intermission: Fluffy Foreshadowing

**Intermission:  
Fluffy Foreshadowing**

The kitten's fur was red all over except for a white crescent on its chest. The bangs of fur surrounding its face might grow to resemble dreadlocks once it got older, but for it just made the kitten look like a very fluffy lion cub. 

"Great! How could this possibly get any worse? First Eggman swipes the Master Emerald AGAIN, then Sonic forces me to wait while he goes in after Eggman on his own, but of course Sonic messes things up completely AGAIN - leaving me clean up his mess! I go inside, get sucker punched by a twisted turtle, berated by an annoying deranged flicky, and then, and THEN I get turned into this!!" 

That's what Knuckles meant to say, but the only sound that came out was an adorable meow. 

"Aw, what a cute widdle pussywussy-kins!" sang the flicky, flying in circles above. 

Knuckles lost his temper. Well, more than he'd already lost it. He double-lost his temper, if that's a permitted phrase. Whatever. The point is that he was about to deign himself to swear, which was rare and unusual for a member of the main cast in the Sonic universe (Contest me all you like, but I remain convinced that "damn" isn't a swearword - it's just a negative emphasiser - so Shadow doesn't count). 

"Listen, birdy, you can go-" Meow. "-yourself. Now leave me alone, you-" Meow. "-ing bird." 

The kitten strode off indignantly, hindered only by its unaccustomed momentum. To put it bluntly, Knuckles fell flat on his face just about as often as he managed to walk ten feet without tripping. It was the stuff that generic home video TV shows just ate up. Knuckles wandered aimlessly for a while, until he happened upon a dark spot behind a row of metal pillars, where he was suddenly picked up by the scruff by someone talking to himself. 

"Damn," said Shadow (See?). "I was right. One Chaos Emerald was thrown clear of the interdimensional blast, and remained in this world. And now Bowser has it. I should've searched the base more thoroughly yesterday." Having finishing up his train of thought, Shadow turned his attention to what he was holding. "I'm going to guess that Eggman isn't the type to keep cats, and neither are the Koopas. Judging by your colour scheme, you're either Knuckles turned into a kitten by magic, or an incredibly coincidence. Meow twice if you're the echidna." 

You wouldn't think a cat could meow in a dark tone, but this one managed it. Twice, even. 

"Don't worry, Knuckles," said Shadow as he carried the kitten off somewhere. "Once we kick the Koopas out of our universe, and send that mustached midget packing, everything should revert back to normal. In the meantime you should be safe in here." 

The black hedgehog tossed Knuckles the kitty unceremoniously into a large storage closet and closed the door. Contrary to what one might think, not all cats land on their feet. Cats that are technically echidnas generally don't. 

After steaming in his own anger for half an hour, Knuckles decided to explore his temporary prison cell. What he found was a horror beyond imagining. Giving the black hedgehog the benefit of the doubt, one must assume that he would never have knowingly thrown Knuckles into this kind of maddening doom and despair. 

The wind-up chao stirred. "HI I'M OMOCHAO!!!" it screeched. 

Cat instincts taking full charge, Knuckles sped like a bolt of lightning into the nearest corner and trembled in fear. He did not yet know that the terror would escalate, as the robotic chao started flying around the enclosure and stirring all the other decommisioned omochaos. 

Truly, Knuckles was facing the greater demons of this storyline. Poor kitty. 

Cats can't talk, but boy can they scream. Knuckles did so at length.

_Next: Seven Minus One Equals Doom_


	20. Seven Minus One Equals Doom

**Chapter 19: Seven Minus One Equals Doom**

Sonic and Luigi were well on their way towards the Koopa Kingdom when the Lakitu arrived.  
Luigi jumped at it but Sonic held on to him by the suspenders. "No! No, we need that one to help us. Hey, trust me, alright?" 

Luigi didn't want to trust the hedgehog, but the princess had been unusually severe about his orders. Come to think of it, even giving outright orders was unlike her. She usually just asked politely if the brothers would help save the kingdom for her. Surely...she couldn't possibly be falling for the hedgehog, could she? So what if he saved her once - Luigi had saved the princess lots of times. 

"You've got a message for me, haven't you?" Sonic asked the Lakitu, peering into its camera. 

"Er, yes," said the Koopa on the cloud. "The message is, _Sonic! I've found another Chaos Emerald. One of the native mushroom-people had discovered it and donated the gem to a museum. I've sent a squad of Koopas to retrieve it. That only leaves the Emerald in the posession of Metal Sonic, plus one more._

_Or perhaps not. I didn't want to reveal this to you until I had investigated the matter properly, hedgehog, but there's a considerable chance than one of the Chaos Emeralds remained behind in my base on Earth. I admit now that I was foolish to expect my machine to be able to excercise the same amount of control over the Master Emerald as its natural guardian, Knuckles, but the Master Emerald may still have had enough power awakened to restrain one single Emerald. This doesn't change our plan, of course, as six Emerald should still be enough to Chaos Control back home. You won't be able to access your Super form, but there's no reason why you should need it he-_ AIEEE!!" 

The message that the Lakitu had been so expertly replaying in a perfect impersonation of Eggman's voice ended abruptly in a death scream, as a tremendous surge of burning energy crushed the Koopa into the ground and cremated it in seconds. 

Super Metal Sonic descended slowly from above, ominously. So complete was his triumph that he wanted to savour the moment. It would serve him as a fond memory in his eternal existence as Overlord of the planet. This planet or the one he was created on - it made no difference. Once his programming was complete, he'd have a whole universe to explore, conquer and destroy as he pleased. 

"Whoa!" Sonic uttered. "New paint job, Metal?" 

Super Metal lazily extended an arm and obliterated the ground Sonic was standing on before making his split-second escape. Sonic doubled back across the barren area, grabbed Luigi by the waist and accellerated. The hedgehog knew better than to look behind himself, but if he had, he would've been surprised to see the orange and black Metal Sonic remaining floating in the air, not making any attempt at pursuit. 

"You can run, you can hide, but I will hunt you down and destroy every place you seek shelter in," Super Metal declared. "If this planet must be made a smouldering ruin before your death at my hands, then all the better!"

Luigi hanging over his shoulder, feet pumping at blurring speed, Sonic had to muster all his concentration for the tricky task of examining the broken camera that'd been thrown clear when the Lakitu was killed, all the while dodging rock formations and leaping narrow streams of lava. 

YES! There was still a light on. Sonic had to hope that Eggman was still recieving on the other end of the line. 

"Eggman! Bring the three Chaos Emeralds to-to- Luigi! What's this place called?" 

"_The vaaaa-haaaaley of B-Bowseeer_!!" 

"Right. Valley of Bowser." This wasn't even the fifth time Sonic had had to listen to someone while carrying them at neck-breaking speeds. He could translate elongated gibberish quite well in the circumstances. "I've seen Metal, and he doesn't have a Chaos Emerald with him anymore. Only...he doesn't seem to really need one right now. Anyway, I think I can track the missing one down. As long as you've arrived by the time Metal catches up with us again, I should be able to use the six Emeralds to send all of us back together. Then I'll get the seventh Emerald back home, become Super Sonic, defeat Metal, and it's a job well done. Yeesh. I hope you can hear this, doc." 

Ten minutes and several hundred miles later, Sonic and Luigi arrived at Bowser's ominous and now slightly ruined castle. The narrow stretch of land leading over the sea of lava to the drawbridge had been collapsed recently, but Sonic was able to jump the distance, just barely. Now, for the first time since he started running, Sonic took time to look behind him. There was no sign of Metal, and the way the robot was glowing right now, he'd be pretty darn easy to spot even at a distance. Luigi staggered over to the nearest column, trying to steady himself while he waited for the world to shift back into focus. He was aware that he might hurl. 

Sonic took out one of his Chaos Emeralds and watched the patterns of light within the gemstone. "Yeah," he said. "There's definitely an Emerald somewhere in this castle." 

Luigi did hurl. Sonic grimaced. "Er...why don't you catch up, huh, pal?" he said before rushing up the stairwell. 

Still far away, but getting closer, was Super Metal Sonic. He was hoping to extend the chase, but if Sonic failed to live up to expectations, then the medieval castle would make a fitting tomb. 

_Next: Chaos Clash Redux_


	21. Chaos Clash Redux Mario and Tails

**Chapter 20: Chaos Clash Redux (Mario and Tails)**

Disembarking from the Tornado II, Mario and Tails ran up to the cliff edge overlooking Dr Eggman's fortress. It was still in the middle of the night. The two heroes hadn't wasted any time after realising that only one obstacle remained. After a moment Shadow appear beside them via a flash of light. 

"Ready for a showdown?" Shadow asked. 

Mario and Tails nodded. 

"Then watch." 

Cackling malevolently, King Bowser fastened the Chaos Emerald to the tip of his makeshift wand. Both he and Junior had taken their seats in the cockpit of their ultimate creation. He'd quickly learned that the mysterious jewel could amplify simple magic to the level of arch-sorcery. With this new wand, Bowser was even more powerful than Kamek the Magikoopa. 

The king of the Koopas joined his youngest-born in the cockpit of their final robotic creation. Ludvig had passed up the opportunity to join the grand conquest, as he'd found something that sparked his passions far more than mere war: Dr Eggman's private opera house, hidden in the back of the base, with each instrument of the orchestra manned by a robot programmed to play a piece flawlessly, and obey instructions quickly and effectively. 

All dressed up in conductor uniform, Ludvig approached the podium and waved his cute little stick. The robot orchestra began to play **"Rise of the Giga Mecha Bowser"** with extra bass. 

With the volume dial set to max, the music even managed to drown out the screams of metal and falling girders, as the awakening robot gargant rose up through the roof of the fortress. 

Tails let out an audible gasp. From this distance he didn't recognise the giant as a robot, because with all the paint and fixtures, it was a believable likeness of the berserker form of King Bowser. The giant's huge claws tore a wider opening in the roof, and soon the titanic likeness of Bowser was standing on top of the ruined metal fortress, roaring defiance against the entire world. Only the rear end of the factory, where Ludvig continued to orchestrate the victory of the Koopas, remained intact. 

"Hmm. Not bad music," said Shadow. Ominous classical orchestra fit his tastes better than the light-hearted rock and roll that Sonic favoured. 

"Shadow! How in the heck are we going to beat that huge thing!?" Tails yelled. 

"We're not. He is." 

They both looked at Mario, who wasn't making much effort to hide his fear and amazement at the biggest foe he'd ever seen in his life (He'd been too young at the time for him to remember when he rode Yoshi during the battle against the overgrown baby Bowser. The memory probably wouldn't have helped much now, though. This wasn't an enemy that was likely to be beaten by throwing giant eggs at it).

"I'll Chaos Control us as close to the robot as I can, then you, Tails, fly Mario the rest of the way to its head. Let him take it from there. This is his nemesis, not ours." 

"Why can't you just teleport us all the way?" Tails asked. 

"Too risky. That robot is powered by the Master Emerald. The energy that stone gives off interferes with my Chaos powers. Don't ever let Knuckles know that, by the way." Being humbled by that rash echidna would be too embarrasing to handle. 

When the trio felt ready, Shadow walked between Mario and Tails, put his hands on their shoulders and shouted "Chaos Control!" The flash of energy carried them across the chasm filled with red-hot molten metal. They reappeared on the broken banisters of the fortress. Resolute in spite of his obvious terror, Tails steeled himself and let his familiar propeller flight commence. Carrying Mario in the same way he'd carried Sonic so many times in the past, Tails flew towards the collossus. 

"Look, there's a little fly!" Junior said, spotting the two on the viewscreen. "Let me swat it!" he added with evil glee, reaching over the control console with his stubby hands. 

Bowser let his son handle the controls. He was proud to watch the evil of the growing lad. 

Sweat dripping off his forehead, Tails watched as the giant turned its full attention towards him. It was sheer luck that its first sweeping blow missed the flying fox completely, as its pilot was still getting used to the controls designed by a considerably larger man with considerably longer arms. The amount of wind resistance generated by the movement of the huge arms was enough to blow Tails off course, which was the only reason why the second sweep missed as well. The fox realised that to have any hope of getting close to the top of the robot, he was going to have to fly away, gain height, and then try to approach from above. He wasn't sure he had the stamina to fly for that long without a break, but there was no choice. 

"Trying to get away?" Junior said irritably. "Fry them, 'pa!" 

"My pleasure!" said Bowser, smashing his fist onto the big red button in front of him. 

Giga Mecha Bowser's maw opened wide, revealing the tiny spout right in the back of its mouth. That tiny spout emitted a flame large enough to envelop half a city, and the wave of flaming death headed straight for Tails. Right then the fox was ready to give up, so he relaxed. With no tails spinning, both fox and plumber fell like stones, dropping beneath the cloud of fire and escaping with their lives. Hope renewed, for now, Tails resumed his helicopter imitation and carried Mario forward with all the speed he had in him. 

"We've got 'em! Turn to the right and we'll roast Mario good!" Bowser commanded. 

Junior pulled on the lever, but to his dismay, it was stuck fast. "It's no good, 'pa! The head won't move while it's still breathing fire." 

Bowser let out a dragonesque growl, then headed for the ladder leading out of the cockpit. 

It was a good thing neither Tails or Mario were afraid of heights, because the view from above the giant robot, standing on top of the tall metal fortress, surrounded by a chasm filled with molten metal - was intimidating, to say the least. They both spotted movement on top of Giga Mecha Bowser's head, and saw a hole open in the top of the robot's head. What came out of the hole didn't promise any relief: And enraged King Bowser, with a wand adorned with a Chaos Emerald. 

This was Tails's final challenge. If any of the rays of deadly magical energy Bowser was shooting hit them, then who'd be left to stop the Koopas before they tilted the balance of influence and doomed the entire universe? It was time to truly take in what Sonic had taught him so many times - don't think, just act. No time to worry about the imminent danger, so just watch the dragon turtle, and dodge his beams as and when he fired them. No time to think about what to do next, just do it! Before he knew it, Tails had carried Mario close enough for the plumber to jump down and confront Bowser himself. 

Tails dropped out of the air and landed on his back on top of the giant head. He was too tired to move a muscle, but Bowser would have no time to try to stomp the sweaty fox, because Mario was at peak performance, and really angry for once. 

"It's a-time for you to give up, King Bowser!" said Mario. 

"Hah! Face it, Mario! You've never beaten me in a fair fight, and you never will! Every time, you stoop to your cowardly tricks, pipsqueek. Cutting the chain of the bridge I'm standing on, tricking me to smash through the floor of my own castle, throwing my Mecha-koopas minions at me, tossing me into bombs, and spilling my bath! My bath, Mario! How dare you!?" 

Mario said nothing. 

"Well, this time I'm gonna take an unfair advantage of my own!" Bowser continued. "See this gemstone? With it I can amplify all of my powers a hundred-fold!" 

Bowser flaunted his wand, and as if on cue, the Chaos Emerald suddenly started glowing far brighter than normal. What happened next came as a shock to both Bowser and Mario. The Chaos Emerald vanished completely, and glowing red clouds suddenly spilled out of the star-lit sky, as if hole in the background had been sliced open, revealing an entirely different scene beyond. 

Ludvig von Koopa's concert hit a false note and crashed to a stop. 

Luigi appeared out of nowhere and dropped down hard on Bowser's head, then skipped down onto the metal surface to meet his brother. By way of a greeting, he said "Issa really good time to duck now, everybody!" 

Mario and Luigi ducked down behind the metallic mane of Giga Mecha Bowser, dragging the unconscious Tails with them. Bowser himself remained standing, which was why he got knocked off his feet and fell backwards when Super Sonic exploded through the realised interdimensional tear, holding on to Super Metal Sonic as if he'd just tackled him. 

And then the universe unravelled... 

_Next: Chaos Clash Redux (Sonic and Luigi)_


	22. Chaos Clash Redux Sonic and Luigi

**Chapter 21: Chaos Clash Redux (Sonic and Luigi)**

"Geeze, you've gotta be kidding me!" Sonic exclaimed, looking up at what he was about to challenge.

The central keep had been torn open from the middle up, leaving only disjointed fragile blocks in the wall, where there should've been a grand stairwell leading to the top. It was going to be a series of death-defying jumps to get up high enough to reach the Chaos Emerald that Metal had left behind. Sonic moved his attention to the outer walls themselves. A lot of gaps, but there was a visible stretch of connected masonry over there. Yeah. Forget platforming, he'd solve this problem the hedgehog way.

Sonic curled into a blue ball and revved up his spin on the spot, throwing dust back until he was ready to release all that charged up energy in a single blast of speed... Let it be said that if the wall had been more structurally sound, Sonic's spin-dash would've carried him right to the goal. But what actually happened was that the blazing blue blur smashed right through the wall, across the rubble-filled floor, and out of the other wall, sending him flying out across the lava-filled moat.

The hedgehog's eyes widened.

Hard to say how Sonic would've gotten out of that peril if Tanooki Luigi hadn't caught him and flown them both back to the relative safety of the ruined castle.

"Whoa!" said Sonic. "Those raccoon tail things actually make you able to fly?"

"Of course!" Luigi answered matter-of-factly.

Willing to accept the limitations of the situation, Sonic asked Luigi to give him a leg-up, so to speak, when he made his second attempt at retrieving the Chaos Emerald. That was the plan, at least, until Sonic's keen eyes spotted a foreboding glow growing on the horizon. Deciding to put his faith in the native hero, Sonic told Luigi that he would deliberately draw Super Metal's attention while the plumber attempted the perilous platforming climb towards the Chaos Emerald.

"I really hope Eggman got that message," Sonic added, before running off.

Indeed, approaching fast from the opposite direction was the Koopa Clown Car, carrying Dr Eggman and the three Chaos Emeralds in the benevolent villain's posession. He would arrive later than the overpowered robot, though, so while Eggman came nearer, Sonic and Luigi were caught in a dance of death. Sonic ran at fantastic speed across the battlements of the castle, jumping gaps and constantly dodging beams of burning death generated by the pursuing Super Metal Sonic. Luigi, meanwhile, was staking all of his experience on traversing one of the most dangerous structures he'd ever encountered in his career. Every block threatened to collapse under his feet, ever jump spanned lethal depths, and as the rocks behind Luigi continued to turn to rubble, it became increasingly obvious that he'd never have a second chance at this.

Sonic made a comical balancing movement on one leg, flailing his arms wildly, as the walkway suddenly came to a sheer drop. What had once led to a perimeter tower was now a dead end, quite literally under the circumstances. Super Metal Sonic drifted to the floor, blocking off the only way out that didn't mean an impossible leap over hot lava.

Even though the supervillain secretly wanted his final victory to last as long as possible, he would not reject a chance to deal the death blow. Hadn't he already given the hedgehog every chance to run? In a manner eerily similar to a certain hedgehog-shaped dark god in an erased timeline, Metal let loose a beam of energy from his open palm.

Sonic's reaction happened so fast that it could only be recounted in excessive slow-motion. As the spearhead of death raced towards him, Sonic reached both arms behind his back and revealed a Chaos Emerald in each hand. Then, just as the beam would hit, Sonic brought the Emeralds together and held them tight as a makeshift shield. Amazingly, it worked. The Emeralds deflected the beam, but it was only a temporary success, because Sonic realised within seconds that he wouldn't be able to hang on for much longer, and even as he kept the lethal blast at bay, the immense flow of it kept pushing him backwards, towards the edge...

The remains of the stars leading to the top were nearly within reach now, but the next block Luigi needed to reach it had already been shattered. With the stone he was standing on trembling under his weight, Luigi was stuck. He was going to have to perform a wall-jump. Luigi swallowed. Wall-jumps had always been Mario's specialty, while Luigi had a tendency to miss-time that crucial kick off the wall. No choice now. He had to do it. Luigi jumped!

Sonic's shoe grazed empty air. With his typical dramatic flair, Super Metal Sonic cancelled the beam of energy, stormed forward, and pushed Sonic over the edge himself. Knowing all too well the resourcefulness of the blue hedgehog, Metal kicked the discarded pair of Chaos Emeralds back from the ledge, then peered over. As he suspected, Sonic had managed to grab onto the edge and was hanging there. Without hesitation, Metal rested his heavy foot on top of Sonic's fingers.

"So ends this drawn-out conflict," said Super Metal. "Goodbye forever, Sonic the Hedgehog."

Super Metal was too wrapped-up in his victory to care about the annoying propeller sound getting gradually louder. The Koopa Clown Car crashed into Metal from behind, knocking him over the edge. From where he was barely hanging on, Sonic watched his robot twin get swallowed by the lava. He looked up, and there was Luigi's outstretched hand.

There was little time to recount what had happened, but the gist of it was that Luigi had made that one crucial wall-jump and reached the Chaos Emerald. Then right afterwards Dr Eggman arrived, picked up Luigi, and uncharacteristically rushed to save Sonic.

Sonic rounded up the six Chaos Emeralds gathered together. Finally, everything was ready for their return home to their own world. Sonic concentrated, and gently the six Emeralds formed a circle around him, started to spin slowly, then faster, glowing more vibrantly with every orbit...

_Bowser flaunted his wand, and as if on cue, the Chaos Emerald suddenly started glowing far brighter than normal. What happened next came as a shock to both Bowser and Mario. The Chaos Emerald vanished completely-_

- a seventh Emerald suddenly flashed into existence, joining the other six as they made their final orbit around Sonic, whose spines were already standing on end, starting to glow and change colour.

Super Sonic opened his eyes. Behind him was a strange anomaly in the red clouds that covered the Valley of Bowser, appearing as a window towards a star-lit sky.

"Well done, Sonic," Eggman said, grudgingly congratulating his long-time enemy.

"No," said Super Sonic. "That wasn't Chaos Control. It's the tear in reality you told me about. It's grown large enough to be manifest. We have to seal it from both sides, quickly."

"Guess this is a-goodbye, huh?" said Luigi.

Suddenly Super Metal Sonic exploded up from the lava, deliberately destroying the structure the group was standing on as he rose. Given the choice between falling to lava and jumping into another dimension, Luigi made the jump. Eggman followed, leaving only Super Sonic and Super Metal behind.

"Let's do this!" said Super Sonic.

The super forms clashed. After intense combat, Sonic managed to tackle his twin, carrying them both through the interdimensional tear.

And then the universe unravelled...

_Next: Zero Nexus_


	23. Zero Nexus

**Prelude to the Final Chapter:  
Zero Nexus**

_Reality had unravelled. It would be a moment until the firmament itself collapsed in on itself..._

Dr Eggman had arrived just seconds after Luigi, but with the convenience of Bowser's flying vehicle, he'd quickly moved away from the scene of the super-brawl. He was not at all happy with what'd happened during his abscence. 

"My fortress! It's ruined! What idiots pumped the molten metal containers out into the filthy ditches? It'll be useless as robot alloy if it's polluted like that! And-aaaahh!!" He'd swerved around to see the Giga Mecha Bowser robot positioned beneath the interdimensional hole. "That can't be my E-7000 Egg Titan!! Who dares redesign the brilliant creations of Dr Eggman!?" 

Then, because the laws of physics were a lot more strict in this world than the other, the Koopa Clown Car tilted upside-down and made a wobbily crash-landing. Because of a certain loophole to said rules, Eggman escaped it all with a face full of soot. 

"Metal!" Super Sonic shouted to his superpowered adversary. "You've got to give up the power you stole from Luigi's world and send it back through the hole, right now! Can't you feel what's happening?" 

"The only thing I feel is regret that you're still alive!" Super Metal countered, throwing himself at Sonic yet again. 

Again and again the two super forms clashed. It was true that now that he was back where he belonged, Sonic could harness considerably more power than Metal, and would win easily if he dared to use it. But right now reality was so unstable, that just that could be enough to put them all beyond the point of no return. Then again, if this fight went on for much longer, they'd face the same dire fate anyway. Sonic decided to take the chance... 

Super Metal threw his fist forward with the speed and weight of a meteor plunging through the atmosphere. Super Sonic caught the fist with his palm, seemingly effortlessly. "I wish it didn't have to come to this," Super Sonic said, then delivered the full power of the seven Chaos Emeralds in the form of a hedgehog-shaped fireball that tore straight through Metal Sonic, reducing the robot to scrap, which in turn melted into volatile gas. Arcs of energy spilled forth from the spot where the evil robot had been, rapidly converging into the shape of a five-pointed star with happy eyes. 

Super Sonic landed in front of Mario and Luigi, carrying the Ultimate Star with him. 

"Let me guess, you're Mario, right?" Sonic asked. 

"It's a-me, yes. And you're-a Sonic?" 

"That's me. I think this belongs to you," Super Sonic said, handing over the Ultimate Star. "Keep it safe. That thing's a lot more dangerous than it looks." 

"Ah, it's a-not so bad," said Mario, casually letting the star dissolve like any other Starman. 

There was no real visual change in Mario, until he snapped his fingers and suddenly his trademark hat sported a pair of wings. Then Mario did a very impressive triple-jump with added summersaults, and was flying like a jolly fat bird down to the ruined fortress. 

Super Sonic closed his eyes and relaxed. Gently, the glow faded from his fur and his spikes settled down to their normal cool style. He knew what Mario was going to do, so there was little else to worry about right now. Sure enough, Mario was back in a flash, carrying a dejected Ludvig von Koopa and a stunned Bowser covered in sticky bits of cooling lava. With Star Power beyond measuring, the weight of the Koopa king was nothing to him right now. A little smugly, Mario tossed the Koopas through the hole in the sky, not forgetting to double-back and pull Junior out of Giga Mecha Bowser's cockpit. 

Then, at last, Luigi and Mario went back home, leaving with a friendly wave to the heroes of a world they would never experience again. 

Tails woke up in time to see his mentor and hero back safe, and felt extremely relieved before passing out from exhaustion again. He'd be fine after a good night's rest. 

"Now," said Sonic. 

"It's a-time," said Mario, having flown back to the scene of the hole after flying everybody to safety, since they'd emerged so inconveniently directly above the lava moat. 

"To close this hole for good!" 

They nearly made it. Or so they might believe, but the truth was that even if all the damage to the interdimensional balance had been mended hours before, they'd still have been too late to prevent the disaster. A whole day more might not have been enough. Because unknown to all, an entity had been devoting all its attention towards speeding up the imminent danger. When the sphere of pure white appeared out of the hole in both universes and grew at a speed far beyond mere light to swallow the planet, the solar system, the galaxy and finally the entire universe - the entity's victory was complete. Or was it? 

Floating in a landscape of milky whiteness that stretched for infinity, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom, awoke. 

Sonic, who was no stranger to these situations, was the first to speak. 

"Dang it!" he yelled. "This ALWAYS happens! I defeat the bad guy, upset his evil schemes, save the world, and then when everything seems nice and peaceful, some jerk shows up out of nowhere and upsets everything!" 

Mario blinked in confusion. What the heck was he talking about? 

Sonic spotted the entity first, because he was looking for it. The figure was hard to make out, though, because the shape clad in medieval armour was as white and devoid of texture as everything else in this bizarre place. 

"Hey! You're the guy responsible for this, aren't you?" the hedgehog accused. 

You are correct, said the entity. I am Zero Nexus, the voice of oblivion. 

"Aren't you a bit muted for a voice, zero?" Sonic taunted. 

Say what you will, but know that your home dimensions have suffered the fate of my own. They are no more. And yet, you both continue to exist. There has been only one precedent for such an event, and that fool suffered corruption and enslavement to the power he thought he commanded. 

"You're a-talking about yourself, no?" Mario asked. 

Only an echo of what he was. The fool thought himself a god through vaunted powers. He discovered a means to transform the very firmament of reality into pure energy for him to drink. The fool was a slave from the beginning. He became Zero Nexus, bound to spend the innumerable infinities as a tool to the cause of erasing all existence. 

Why do you two still continue to be? 

"I don't know," said Sonic, "but I'm not gonna let you get away with this, zero. I'll beat you and bring everything back the way it was before you ever got a chance to stick your nose into it." 

Impossible, Zero Nexus responded. I cannot be undone, for I do not share existence as you know it. 

"Did that make any sense at all to you?" Sonic asked Mario. 

"No," Mario answered truthfully. 

"Not just me, then." 

Your mockery serves no purpose. Hear me: I will respect that something greater than myself has preserved you two champions and allowed you to continue to be. I offer a resolution. Fight each other to prove which one of you is the more deserving of retaining vigil over their own world. From the victor I will draw the inherent memory buried within his physical form and restore the native dimension to what it was. The defeated will be undone. 

Behold, I shall create a battleground, and grant each of you access to all of your powers and skills, so that you may fight to the fullest. 

After that Zero Nexus was silent, and not doing any communication. Mario and Sonic found themselves standing on a football field-sized rectangle, opposite each other. They were both reluctant to fight the person whose friends had proven such wonderful allies during their adventure. Mario knew he had to fight to save Luigi, Peach, Toad and all the people he cared about back home, but that would mean dooming Tails and all the innocent people in Sonic's world. Sonic saw the same impossible choice, and that was why it was a long time before either of them made a single movement. 

Zero Nexus awaited the result with the closest it could ever come to the emotion of satisfaction. It had deliberately witheld the whole truth from Mario and Sonic, because there might yet be a way they could secure the salvation of both their worlds - and Zero Nexus would not allow them to find it. 

_Next: Bad Ending #1_


	24. Bad Ending 1

**Bad Ending #1: Dark Triumph**

Mario and Sonic ran towards each other, both jumped with their fist raised, there was a really long second of frozen time, then the first blows hit. Mario jumped over a leg sweep and pounded down on Sonic's back, which the hedgehog countered by charging up a spin-dash. Sonic swerved around the perimeter of the battleground and raced towards Mario. The first two homing attacks hit fast, before Mario figured out how to counter them. The plumber utilised a whirlwhind jump, which succesfully deflected Sonic's spin. He then followed up with a painful drill kick.

After being thrown back a distance, Mario took advantage of a brief pause in the fight to test the limits of Zero Nexus's promise. "All your powers and skills" the monster had said. Mario concentrated on a specific one, and at once his costume was complimented with a yellow cape. Sonic would now find himself faced with a significant improvement of the regular whirlwhind spin. However, the hedgehog hadn't been idle either, and Sonic was well prepared with a move he hadn't used in ages, but which would aid him well now. As Mario spun close, Sonic jumped up, rolleed into a ball, and started spinning circles around the caped Mario, accellerating Mario's spin until he lost control.

But Mario was neither dizzy nor helpless. After getting tossed way high above the battleground, Mario used his cape to reduce his descent to a safe one, then switched to a different superpower just before touching down. Fire-flinging Mario in white suspenders greeted Sonic with a hail of fireballs, expertly aimed. Barring those tricky wall-jumps, Luigi really was the better jumper of the twin brothers. Mario, however, was twice the marksman when it came to great balls of fire. Sonic could testify that it was true, because he was having a lot more difficulty dodging now than he had when he fought Luigi. Sonic recalled a power-up that'd come in handy right now.

Mario ceased his fireball throwing as he realised that Sonic wasn't dodging at all anymore, but staying put with a smug expression as the flames were harmlessly absorbed by the sphere of fire that surrounded his body. It was a shame that you never saw flame shields in item boxes anymore. They really came in handy during Sonic's first Angel Island adventure. Right now, it was more than enough to render Mario's fire flower useless.

It went on like that for...how long? Impossible to tell in the timeless void ruled over by Zero Nexus. Although their powers and skills differed greatly, Mario and Sonic were truly evenly matched in terms of determination. It was also a factor that both were unconsciously holding back, as neither one really wanted to follow through with their victory, as it would mean that all the innhabitants of the other's world would be lost forever. Eventually, as the battle reached another break, Sonic realised what he would have to do to save Tails, Amy, Knuckles, everyone...

"Zero Nexus!" he called. "You said you'd give us access to ALL our powers, and you said that you can restore the worlds through our memories."

This is so, said the silent voice of Zero Nexus.

"Then restore the Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic demanded.

Perhaps. Will you allow your adversary an equal advantage?

"Fine."

Then so be it.

One by one, the seven Chaos Emeralds formed out of nothing, and joined in a circle around Sonic the Hedgehog. At the same time, Mario was returned the fantastic power of the Ultimate Star, but Sonic knew that if his plan worked, then that wouldn't save Mario. The process that turned an above-average hedgehog into a superpowered one repeated as before, but with a very important difference. Sonic was focusing on his hatred for Zero Nexus and his despair over having to doom Mario's world. Shortly before dissolving into pure energy, the Emeralds turned black as the negative energy within each one was channeled and harnessed.

The Dark incarnation of Super Sonic opened his eyes. No pupils, no conscience, nothing holding him back. Wrapped in black fur, glowing dark-blue, Sonic attacked. Horribly, he was laughing as he fought.

Mario didn't stand a chance. For all the power he could gain from the Star, nothing could protect him from a foe that didn't hesitate a second before turning harsh measures into lethal ones. Dark Super Sonic killed Mario...

"It's done." Even Sonic's voice was different.

I congratulate you on your victory, Sonic the Hedgehog. You have done what I could not, for two heroes spared the void of nonexistence would be untouchable to one such as I. Indeed, you might have possessed the means to destroy me. But now it is over. As promised, I will undo the destruction of your universe, and leave it in peace. Within the infinite multiverse, I will feed again many times. The universe that spawned Mario will not have been the last to join me.

Dark Super Sonic was spared the pain of regret, but even this form Sonic knew that he would be haunted forever by the knowledge that he'd made the wrong choice in fighting Mario. There had been a way to destroy Zero Nexus and save both their worlds - if only he'd been able to see it in time.

The white scene faded to black... When Sonic next awoke, he was home again.

**An Ending**

_Next: Bad Ending #2 (the one where Mario wins)_


	25. Bad Ending 2

**Bad Ending #2: Stand of the Hero**

Mario and Sonic ran towards each other, both jumped with their fist raised, there was a really long second of frozen time, then the first blows hit. Mario did a Matrix-esque tilt under Sonic's flying fist, grabbed the hedgehog by the tail and jumped up before drop-kicking Sonic to the ground. The hedgehog spun into a ball and shot upwards, interrupting Mario's rock-crushing drop, and delibering an inverted kick to his abdomen. 

Both dropped back down. Sonic's expression grew more serous, as the hedgehog started running around the perimeter of the battleground, gaining speed until he was a blur colouring everything blue. Mario took a chanced shot at a certain spot, only feel himself attacked from behind. He threw his fist backwards, and was rewarded with a follow-up attack to the front. Desperately, Mario tried to test Zero Nexus's promise of powers, and concentrated on a Starman. Sonic's next attack hit an impenetrable and pain-inducing barrier. As an unplanned reaction, he called for an invincibility shield. 

"Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea." 

"It's a-true." 

Temporarily unable to do anything to the other, both Mario and Sonic waited impatiently for their respective invincibilites to wear off. Sonic tapped his foot, as he often did, while Mario stared off aimlessly into the middle distance, whistling a familiar tune. 

"Hey Zero Nexus, maybe there should be some-a water here, ah?" Mario asked the host. Incidentally, that one of the longest sentences he'd spoken during the entire adventure. 

"Hey, that's not cool," Sonic protested. 

Granted. 

A small pond appeared in the middle of the rectangle of land, and grew to encompass half of it. Although the battleground was only inches thick, the water seemed to fill a trench of incredible depth. The water was unnaturally clear, so the bottom would be visible if there was one to see anywhere. 

Sonic looked up to see Mario wearing a ridiculous frog costume. He wasn't laughing when Mario grabbed him around the waist and pulled him down into the water. The frog-suit was as useless as it was silly on land, but in the water it made Mario an aquatic expert. Sonic, on the other hand, was next to helpless. With no traction, his amazing speed couldn't help him one bit. Mario wasn't fighting much, but he was adamantly blocking Sonic's every attempt to reach the surface. Before it was too late, Sonic stoppes struggling, and started thinking. As a first step, the hedgehog summoned an electric shield. In this environment, the shield failed instantly, but not before releasing a shocking surge through the water that threw Mario off Sonic. Next, Sonic called the last of the elemental shields, the only one that'd help him now. Mario had for a moment lost sight of Sonic, but he didn't have to look long, because the bubble-wrapped hedgehog rebounded off the far rock wall and came at Mario at high speed, smashing him into the opposite wall. Drawing on the bouncing properties of his shield, Sonic smashed Mario into the wall about a dozen times before deciding his opponent was stunned enough to be unable to prevent him from escaping back to the surface. 

"Zero Nexus!" Sonic called, after coughing up enough water to be able to form a complete sentence. "You said you'd give us access to ALL our powers, and you said that you can restore the worlds through our memories..." 

When Mario emerged from the water, Sonic was already halfway through his transformation, standing within the circle of Chaos Emeralds. Mario could see spots of black appearing and spreading across Sonic's fur, as his spikes rose. As he changed, the resemblance between Sonic and Shadow was enough to spark an important memory in Mario. Before it was too late, Mario frantically searched his pockets, and pulled out Wendy O Koopa's wand. Mighty Shadow, with all his terrifying Chaos powers, had been rendered completely helpless by a simple spark of paralyzing magic from this very wand. Mario had to hope that it would work against Sonic as well. 

_Zap!_

Six black Emeralds, drained of all their negative energy, fell to the ground, followed by the last Emerald, still vibrantly blue. 

Because magic wasn't an element of Sonic's world, the populace had no natural resistances to it. The seven wands Mario had taken from the Koopalings. If he used their power against Sonic, then his victory would be assured. 

After a long pause, Zero Nexus interrupted. 

Why do you hesitate? Your victory is within reach, the salvation of your universe. 

Mario wanted to tell the void-entity that killing an innocent person, even to save others, was against everything he'd fought for and believed in all his life. If he sacrifices Tails, Shadow, Amy and all the others to save his own kin, then he would hate himself forever. He would never be able to tell any of them that the only reason they were alive was because people who deserved just as much to live had been destroyed. 

But all he said was "So long, Zero Nexus!" 

Mario gripped three wands in his left hand and four in his right, joined all seven together into a bundle and aimed the joined points at Zero Nexus. The blast of combined energy was really impressive, but in the end Zero Nexus remained completely unphased. 

I told you, I cannot be undone. Your lack of cooperation is regrettable, but so be it. You may rule this private portion of oblivion, forever. Farewell. 

Zero Nexus's form faded into the white background, and was gone. For a while Mario tried calling out, challenging him to face them. But the entity never returned. Mario and Sonic were left alone, alive but trapped forever in the white void. 

Trying to fight Zero Nexus via conventional means had been the wrong choice. The embodiment of non-existence surely had to have a weakness of some sort. If only they could've found it while they still had the chance...

**Another Ending.**

_Next: The Super Mega Happy Ending_


	26. Time to Save the Worlds

**The Final Chapter:  
Time to Save the Worlds**

I am Zero Nexus, the voice of oblivion.  
I cannot be undone. 

"Zero Nexus!" Sonic called. "You said you'd give us access to ALL our powers, and you said that you can restore the worlds through our memories." 

This is so, said the silent voice of Zero Nexus. 

"Then restore the Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic demanded. 

Perhaps. Will you allow your adversary an equal advantage? 

"Fine." 

Then so be it. 

One by one, the seven Chaos Emeralds formed out of nothing, and joined in a circle around Sonic the Hedgehog. At the same time, Mario was returned the fantastic power of the Ultimate Star, and Sonic knew that if his plan worked, he'd need all the help he could get. Maybe Zero Nexus could generate anything from the memories of the two heroes, but Sonic was sure that he couldn't read what he was thinking right now, because if he did, then he'd probably be really desperate to stop the hedgehog or run away. Sonic winked to Mario, who winked back. Now, the process that turned an above-average hedgehog into a superpowered one repeated as before, with no difference at all. Sonic's mind was focused completely on the means to defeat this villain and save everyone. 

The golden Super Sonic opened his eyes. With that confident expression, there was no doubt that he knew what to do. The hedgehog chuckled. 

Zero Nexus's featureless head couldn't convey much in the way of expressions, but there was something noticable in his words when Super Sonic flew up close to him, and he said: What do you intend? You cannot harm me, just as you cannot harm nothingness itself. 

"That's okay," said Super Sonic. "I wasn't planning on it." 

Then wha-aaaAAA**AHHH**!! 

Super Sonic stretched out his hands, and let his golden aura expand outwards to encompass Zero Nexus. Sonic had learned a while ago that while the seven Chaos Emeralds were absorbed into his body, he inherited their power to super-amplify the potiential of anyone - essentially forcing them towards a super form. That was what was happening with Zero Nexus right now. 

"AH_H**HAAA**A_A!!!" 

Sonic knew he was right when he hear Zero Nexus's voice clearly through his ears instead of through his mind, like before. 

Texture was flowing over Zero Nexus's body, seperating him from the white void around. As his presence became more real, his shape changed, becoming disfigured and less humanoid with each passing second- 

A white tentacle covered in streaks of black shot out and wrapped around Super Sonic's chest, pinning his arms to his sides. Zero Nexus had a face now, but it looked horrible. If he'd ever been a human, he was far from it now. What was left of his flesh was withered and almost transpared, exposing his sharp skeletal frame. Unnatural bulges in his body led to spiny growths and nightmarish tentacles. He looked like what he was: A cosmic parasite that should've died far too long ago. 

"You fool!" said Zero Nexus. "You've freed me from my enslavement! I can inflict harm by my own volition now!" 

"That's okay," said Super Sonic. "So can he." 

Mario, filled with the power of the Ultimate Star, stomped down on top of the monstrosity with meteoric speed and force, Super Sonic tore through the tentacle binding him, and both heroes flew to take their positions on opposite sides of their enemy. Zero Nexus's scream of rage as he realised that he'd been tricked was incredibly satisfying to the two who were going to make him pay dearly for all the evil he'd commited. 

"Ready Mario?" Super Sonic called. "Time to make this creep cough up all the dimensions it's swallowed." 

"I'm a-ready! Time to say goodnight, Zero Nexus!" 

Dodging tentacles and spines at beyond supersonic speed, carving through tons of disgusting monster, Mario and Sonic fought with ferocity beyond any they'd exhibited during their lengthy adventure. This was what it all came down to: One final battle to decide whether all of their friends, loved ones, and homes near and far would be restored or lost forever. Zero Nexus had no intention of giving up easily, however, and several times he nearly succeeded in impaling or enveloping one of the heroes - but the other was always there in the nick of time. Working together, Super Mario and Super Sonic were an unstoppable force. 

Before long, Zero Nexus was crying out his epitath as the certainy of defeat grew too great to ignore. 

"This is unfair! All I wanted was power. I didn't deserve to have to suffer a million years a-a-a-m-mil_lion years_!!" Awake, always awake and watching - never able to sleep. "I just wanted to make them all see what I could do. They should've respected me from the onset, I- A million years!! WHY?" 

For a second Zero Nexus's voice slipped back into muteness, and Sonic was worried that he might be slipping back into his untouchable state, but it was just the last vestige of the power that the monster was losing for good. As he and Mario watched the twisted creature let out its death cries, the white void around them slowly faded to black. Oblivion was unravelling... 

"I guess this is really it," said Mario. 

"Yeah. What a crazy ride, huh?" Sonic responded. 

"Did my brother help you?" 

"Oh, Luigi was amazing. I couldn't have done it without him." 

"That's a-good. Can you thank Tails and Shadow for me?" 

"I promise." 

And then they, too, faded away. 

- 

- 

- 

"I got it! I got it!" 

The arrival of Bowser Jr was apparent well before he entered the chamber, and not just because of how well his voice carried in these echoey stone rooms. A bright shine, almost painfully bright in this dark enclosures, shone ahead of him, and as he entered its source was apparent. Held in both stubby hands was the largest, brightest star ever seen. It was even bigger than the star Bowser used back when he took over Princess Peach's castle, and practically dwarfed the young Koopaling. 

"Well done, son," Bowser exclaimed with pride and glee. "Give me the Ultimate Star, and take your position. Wait, you didn't see any sign of Mario on your way, did you?" 

"Nope! That guy doesn't have a clue what's going to happen, pa'." 

"Oh, I wouldn't a-say that," said Mario, stepping out from behind the Koopa King. 

Bowser nearly leapt through the roof. "MARIO! How!? Junior, bring me the Star over here, quick!" 

Someone whistled. Bowser's jaw dropped at the sight of Luigi standing over a dazed Junior, holding the Ultimate Star safely. Immediatelly, Mario jumped over Bowser, stomped on his head, so the King got splashed in the magic cauldron, and joined his brother by the exit. 

"So long!" the Super Mario brothers yelled cheerfully as they ran off with the crucial ingredient for Bowser's big spell. 

"AFTER THEM!!" 

- 

- 

- 

The return of Metal Sonic made Eggman jump. He'd removed Metal's voice chip, and that robot could move as silently as a breath of air. It was only the green glow of the Master Emerald held above Metal's head that made Eggman look around. 

"Muahahahaha! Perfect! Now, Metal Sonic, insert the Master Emerald into the slot at the top of the machine, and get out of my way. Wait, you weren't followed by Sonic or Knuckles, were you?" 

"You'd better believe he was," shouted Knuckles as he swung around the doorway, followed by Sonic. 

Sonic didn't waste a second. He revved up a spin-dash, and shot straight past both Metal Sonic and Eggman, smashing through the huge machine, rendering it completely inoperable. 

"Grrrr! Not again!" Eggman shouted, stomping the floor in frustration. 

Knuckles grabbed Eggman, heaved the fat scientist over his head, and bowled him across the floor, past a recently-waxed corridor, and into a certain supply closet, where the doctor suffered a heavy shower of happily-shouting Omochaos. 

"Man, it's good to be home," Sonic said to himself, then dodged Metal Sonic's lunge and kicked the robot in the back of the head. 

Everything was as it should be. 

**THE END**


End file.
